LII3RARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNI 


Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  1894. 
Accessions  Afo.vO>  SlC?  6?  •      Class  No. 


PRACTICAL    EDUCATION 


BY 


MARIA    EDGEWORTH, 

AUTHOR  OF  "LETTERS  FOR  LITERARY  LADIES,"  &C. 


RICHARD    LOVELL    EDGEWORTH, 

F.R.S.    AND    M.R.I.A. 

3  V  'a. 

COMPLETE      IN      ONE      VOLUME. 


NEW    YORK: 
HARPER    &    BROTHERS,    PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN     SQUARE. 

1855. 


WE  shall  not  imitate  the  invidious  example  of  some 
authors,  who  think  it  necessary  to  destroy  the  edifices  of 
others,  in  order  to  clear  the  way  for  their  own.  We 
have  no  peculiar  system  to  support,  and,  consequently, 
we  have  no  temptation  to  attack  the  theories  of  others ; 
and  we  have  chosen  the  title  of  "  Practical  Education," 
to  point  out  that  we  rely  entirely  upon  practice  and  expe- 
rience. 

To  make  any  progress  in  the  art  of  education,  it  must 
be  patiently  reduced  to  an  experimental  science  :  we  are 
fully  sensible  of  the  extent  and  difficulty  of  this  under- 
taking, and  we  have  not  the  arrogance  to  imagine,  that 
we  have  made  any  considerable  progress  in  a  work  which 
the  labours  of  many  generations  may,  perhaps,  be  insuffi- 
cient to  complete ;  but  we  lay  before  the  public  the  re- 
sult of  our  experiments,  and  in  many  instances  the  exper- 
iments themselves.  In  pursuing  this  part  of  our  plan, 
we  have  sometimes  descended  from  that  elevation  of  style 
which  the  reader  might  expect  in  a  quarto  volume  ;  we 
have  frequently  been  obliged  to  record  facts  concerning 
children  which  may  seem  trifling,  and  to  enter  into  a 
minuteness  of  detail  which  may  appear  unnecessary. 
No  anecdotes,  however,  have  been  admitted  without  due 
deliberation  ;  nothing  has  been  introduced  to  gratify  the 
idle  curiosity  of  others,  or  to  indulge  our  own  feelings  of 
domestic  partiality. 

In  what  we  have  written  upon  the  rudiments  of  science, 
we  have  pursued  an  opposite  plan ;  so  far  from  attempt- 
ing to  teach  them  in  detail,  we  refer  our  readers  to  the 
excellent  treatises  on  the  different  branches  of  science, 
and  on  the  various  faculties  of  the  human  mind,  which 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

are  to  be  found  in  every  language.  The  chapters  that 
we  have  introduced  upon  these  subjects,  are  intended 
merely  as  specimens  of  the  manner  in  which  we  think 
young  children  should  be  taught.  We  have  found,  from 
experience,  that  an  early  knowledge  of  the  first  princi- 
ples of  science  may  be  given  in  conversation,  and  may  be 
\  insensibly  acquired  from  the  usual  incidents  of  life  ;  if 
this  knowledge  be  carefully  associated  with  the  technical 
terms  which  common  use  may  preserve  in  the  memory, 
much  of  the  difficulty  of  subsequent  instruction  may  be 
avoided. 

The  sketches  we  have  hazarded  upon  these  subjects 
may  to  some  appear  too  slight,  and  to  others  too  abstruse 
and  tedious.  To  those  who  have  explored  the  vast  mine* 
of  human  knowledge,  small  specimens  appear  trifling  anc^ 
contemptible,  while  the  less  accustomed  eye  is  some- 
what dazzled  and  confused  by  the  appearance  even  of  a 
small  collection  :  bat  to  the  most  enlightened  minds,  new 
combinations  may  be  suggested  by  a  new  arrangement 
of  materials,  and  the  curiosity  and  enthusiasm  of  the  in- 
experienced may  be  awakened,  and  excited  to  accurate 
and  laborious  researches. 

With  respect  to  what  is  commonly  called  the  educa- 
tion of  the  heart,  we  have  endeavoured  to  suggest  the 
easiest  means  of  inducing  useful  and  agreeable  habits, 
'  well-regulated  sympathy,  and  benevolent  affections.     A 
^  witty  writer  says,  "  II  est  permis  d'ennuyer  en  moralites 
d'ici  jusqu'a  Constantinople."     Unwilling  to  avail  our- 
selves of  this  permission,  we  have  sedulously  avoided  dec- 
lamation, and,  wherever  we  have  been  obliged  to  repeat 
ancient  maxims  and  common  truths,  we  have  at  least 
thought  it  becoming  to  present  them  in  a  new  dress. 

On  religion  and  politics  we  have  been  silent,  because 
we  have  no  ambition  to  gain  partisans,  or  to  make  pros- 
elytes, and  because  we  do  not  address  ourselves  exclu- 
sively to  any  sect  or  to  any  party.  The  scrutinizing  eye 
of  criticism,  in  looking  over  our  table  of  contents,  will 
also,  probably,  observe  that  there  are  no  chapters  on 
courage  and  chastity.  To  pretend  to  teach  courage  to 
Britons,  would  be  as  ridiculous  as  it  is  unnecessary  ;  and, 


PREFACE.  IX 

except  among  those  who  are  exposed  to  the  contagion 
of  foreign  manners,  we  may  boast  of  the  superior  delicacy 
of  our  fair  countrywomen  ;  a  delicacy  acquired  from  do- 
mestic example,  and  confirmed  by  public  approbation. 
Our  opinions  concerning  the  female  character  and  under- 
standing, have  been  fully  detailed  in  a  former  publica- 
tion;* and,  unwilling  to  fatigue  by  repetition,  we  have 
touched  but  slightly,  upon  these  subjects  in  our  chapters 
on  Temper,  Female  Accomplishments,  Prudence,  and 
Economy. 

We  have  warned  our  readers  not  to  expect  from  us 
any  new  theory  of  education  ;  but  they  need  not  appre- 
hend that  we  have  written  without  method,  or  that  we 
have  thrown  before  them  a  heap  of  desultory  remarks  and 
experiments,  which  lead  to  no  general  conclusions,  and 
which  tend  to  the  establishment  of  no  useful  principles. 
We  assure  them  that  we  have  worked  upon  a  regular 
plan,  and  where  we  have  failed  of  executing  our  design, 
it  has  not  been  for  want  of  labour  or  attention.  Con- 
vinced that  it  is  the  duty  and  the  interest  of  all  who  write, 
to  inquire  what  others  have  said  and  thought  upon  the 
subject  of  which  they  treat,  we  have  examined  attentively 
the  works  of  others,  that  we  might  collect  whatever 
knowledge  they  contain,  and  that  we  might  neither  arro- 
gate inventions  which  do  not  belong  to  us,  nor  weary  the 
public  by  repetition.  Some  useful  and  ingenious  essays 
may  probably  have  escaped  our  notice ;  but  we  flatter 
ourselves  that  our  readers  will  not  find  reason  to  accuse 
us  of  negligence,  as  we  have  perused  with  diligent  at- 
tention every  work  upon  education  that  has  obtained  the 
sanction  of  time  or  of  public  approbation  ;  and,  though  we 
have  never  bound  ourselves  to  the  letter,  we  hope  that 
we  have  been  faithful  to  the  spirit,  of  their  authors. 
Without  encumbering  ourselves  with  any  part  of  their 
\systems  which  has  not  been  authorized  by  experience,  we 
have  steadily  attempted  immediately  to  apply  to  practice 
such  of  their  ideas  as  we  have  thought  useful ;  but  while 
we  hav.e  used  the  thoughts  of  others,  we  have  been  anx- 

*  Letters  for  Literary  Ladies.    Vide  p.  185,  vol.  vii.  Harper's  Ed         V 
A  3 


X  PREFACE. 

ious  to  avoid  mean  plagiarism  ;  and  wherever  we  have 
borrowed,  the  debt  has  been  carefully  acknowledged. 

The  first  hint  of  the  chapter  on  Toys  was  received 
from  Dr.  Beddoes ;  the  sketch  of  an  introduction  to 
chymistry  for  children  was  given  to  us  by  Mr.  Lovell 
Edgeworth  ;  and  the  rest  of  the  work  was  resumed  from 
a  design  formed  and  begun  twenty  years  ago.  When  a 
book  appears  under  the  name  of  two  authors,  it  is  natural 
to  inquire  what  share  belongs  to  each  of  them.  All  that 
relates  to  the  art  of  teaching  to  read  in  the  chapter  on 
Tasks,  the  chapters  on  Grammar  and  Classical  Litera- 
ture, Geography,  Chronology,  Arithmetic,  Geometry,  and 
Mechanics,  were  written  by  Mr.  Edgeworth,  and  the  rest 
of  the  book  by  Miss  Edgeworth.  She  was  encouraged 
and  enabled  to  write  upon  this  important  subject,  by 
having  for  many  years  before  her  eyes  the  conduct  of  a 
judicious  mother  in  the  education  of  a  large  family.  The 
chapter  on  Obedience  was  written  from  Mrs.  Edge  worth's 
notes,  and  was  exemplified  by  her  successful  practice  in 
the  management  of  her  children ;  the  whole  manuscript 
was  submitted  to  her  judgment,  and  she  revised  parts  of 
it  in  the  last  stage  of  a  fatal  disease. 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  Page 

I.  Toys 13 

-    II.  Tasks 38 

III.  On  Attention 64 

IV.  Servants 96 

V.  Acquaintance     -         -         -         -         -  106 

VI.  On  Temper       -                                     -  120 

VII.  On  Obedience 133 

VIII.  On  Truth                                                 -  146 

IX.  On  Rewards  and  Punishments     -  172 

X.  On  Sympathy  and  Sensibility       -         -  200 

XI.  On  Vanity,  Pride,  and  Ambition  -         -  225 

XII.  Books 238 

-   XIII.  On  Grammar  and  Classical  Literature  -  287 

^  XIV.  On  Geography  and  Chronology    -         -  309 

-  XV.  On  Arithmetic    -                                     -  314 

-  XVI.  Geometry  -                                              -  329 
—  XVII.  On  Mechanics    -                                      -  332 

XVIII.  Chymistry                                        -         -  356 

XIX.  On  Public  and  Private  Education          -  362 

XX.  On  Female  Accomplishments,  &c.        -  376 

XXI.  Memory  and  Invention         -         -         -  401 

XXII.  Taste  and  Imagination                           -  435 

XXIII.  Wit  and  Judgment      -         ...  466 

XXIV.  Prudence  and  Economy      ...  494 
XXV.  Summary  -                  -         -        -         -511 

APPENDIX. 

Notes,  containing  Conversations  and  Anecdotes  of 

Children 524 


PRACTICAL   EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

TOYS. 

"  WHY  don't  you  play  with  your  playthings,  my  dear  ? 
I  am  sure  that  I  have  bought  toys  enough  for  you ;  why 
can't  you  divert  yourself  with  them,  instead  of  break- 
ing them  to  pieces  ?"  says  a  mother  to  her  child,  who 
stands  idle  and  miserable,  surrounded  by  disjointed  dolls, 
maimed  horses,  coaches,  and  one-horse  chairs  without 
wheels,  and  a  nameless  wreck  of  gilded  lumber. 

A  child  in  this  situation  is  surely  more  to  be  pitied 
than  blamed ;  for  is  it  not  vain  to  repeat,  "  Why  don't 
you  play  with  your  playthings,"  unless  they  be  such  as 
he  can  play  with,  which  is  very  seldom  the  case  ;  and 
is  it  not  rather  unjust  to  be  angry  with  him  for  breaking 
them  to  pieces,  when  he  can  by  no  other  device  render 
them  subservient  to  his  amusement  1  He  breaks  them, 
not  from  the  love  of  mischief,  but  from  the  hatred  of 
idleness ;  either  he  wishes  to  see  what  his  playthings 
are  made  of,  and  how  they  are  made  ;  or,  whether  he 
can  put  them  together  again,  if  the  parts  be  once  separ- 
ated. All  this  is  perfectly  innocent ;  and  it  is  a  pity 
>^that  his  love  of  knowledge  and  his  spirit  of  activity 
should  be  repressed  by  the  undistinguishing  correction 
of  a  nursery-maid,  or  the  unceasing  reproof  of  a  French 
governess. 

The  more  natural  vivacity  and  ingenuity  young  people 
possess,  the  less  are  they  likely  to  be  amused  with  the 
toys  which  are  usually  put  into  their  hands.  They 
icquire  to  have  things  which  exercise  their  senses  or 
their  imagination,  their  imitative  and  inventive  powers. 
The  glaring  colours,  or  the  gilding  of  toys,  may  catch 
3 


14  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

the  eye,  and  please  for  a  few  minutes  ;  but  unless  some 
use  can  be  made  of  them,  they  will,  and  ought  to  be 
soon  discarded.  A  boy,  who  has  the  use  of  his  limbs, 
and  whose  mind  is  untainted  with  prejudice,  would,  in 
v  all  probability,  prefer  a  substantial  cart,  in  which  he 
^could  carry  weeds,  earth,  and  stones,  up  and  down  hill, 
to  the  finest  frail  coach  and  six  that  ever  came  out  of  a 
toyshop :  for  what  could  he  do  with  the  coach  after 
having  admired  and  sucked  the  paint,  but  drag  it  cau- 
tiously along  the  carpet  of  a  drawing-room,  watching  the 
wheels,  which  will  not  turn,  and  seeming  to  sympathize 
with  the  just  terrors  of  the  lady  and  gentleman  within, 
who  are  certain  of  being  overturned  every  five  minutes  ? 
When  he  is  tired  of  this,  perhaps,  he  may  set  about  to 
unharness  horses  which  were  never  meant  to  be  unhar- 
nessed; or  to  currycomb  their  woollen  manes  and  tails, 
which  usually  come  off  during  the  first  attempt. 

That  such  toys  are  frail  and  useless,  may,  however, 
be  considered  as  evils  comparatively  small :  as  long  as 
j  the  child  has  sense  and  courage  to  destroy  the  toys, 
:  there  is  no  great  harm  done  ;  but,  in  general,  he  is 
taught  to  set  a  value  upon  them  totally  independent  of 
all  ideas  of  utility,  or  of  any  regard  to  his  own  real  feel- 
ings. Either  he  is  conjured  to  take  particular  care  of 
them,  because  they  cost  a  great  deal  of  money,  or  else 
he  is  taught  to  admire  them  as  miniatures  of  some  of 
the  fine  things  on  which  fine  people  pride  themselves  : 
if  no  other  bad  consequence  were  to  ensue,  this  single 
circumstance  of  his  being  guided  in  his  choice  by  the 
opinion  of  others  is  dangerous.  Instead  of  attending 
to  his  own  sensations,  and  learning  from  his  own  ex- 
perience,  he  acquires  the  habit  of  estimating  his  pleas- 
>  ures  by  the  taste  and  judgment  of  those  who  happen 
to  be  near  him. 

"  I  liked  the  cart  best,"  says  the  boy,  "  but  mamma 
and  everybody  said  that  the  coach  was  the  prettiest ; 
so  I  chose  the  coach." — Shall  we  wonder  if  the  same 
principle  afterward  governs  him  in  the  choice  of  "  the 
toys  of  age  ?" 

A  little  girl,  presiding  at  her  baby  tea-table,  is  pleased 
with  the  notion  that  she  is  like  her  mamma  ;  and,  before 
she  can  have  any  idea  of  the  real  pleasures  of  conver- 
sation and  societ)',  she  is  confirmed  in  the  persuasion, 
\  that  tattling  and  visiting  are  some  of  the  most  enviable 
privileges  of  grown  people  ;  a  set  of  beings  whom  she 


TOYS.  15 

believes  to  be  in  possession  of  all  the  sweets  of  hap- 
piness. 

Dolls,  beside  the  prescriptive  right  of  ancient  usage, 
can  boast  of  such  an  able  champion  in  Rousseau,  that  it 
requires  no  common  share  of  temerity  to  attack  them. 
As  far  as  they  are  the  means  of  inspiring  girls  with  a 
taste  for  neatness  in  dress,  and  with  a  desire  to  make 
those  things  for  themselves  for  which  women  are 
usually  dependant  upon  milliners,  we  must  acknowl- 
edge their  utility  ;  but  a  watchful  eye  should  be  kept 
upon  the  child,  to  mark  the  first  symptoms  of  a  love  of 
finery  and  fashion.  It  is  a  sensible  remark  of  a  late 
female  writer,  that  while  young  people  work,  the  mind 
will  follow  the  hands ;  the  thoughts  are  occupied  with 
trifles,  and  the  industry  is  stimulated  by  vanity. 

Our  objections  to  dolls  are  offered  with  great  submis- 
sion and  due  hesitation.  With  more  confidence  we  may 
venture  to  attack  baby-ft*ouses :  an  unfurnished  baby- 
house  might  be  a  good  toy,  as  it  would  employ  little 
carpenters  and  seamstresses  to  fit  it  up;  but  a  com- 
pletely furnished  baby-house  proves  as  tiresome  to  a 
child,  as  a  finished  scat  is  to  a  young  nobleman.  After 
peeping,  for  in  general  only  a  peep  can  be  had  into  each 
apartment,  after  being  thoroughly  satisfied  that  nothing 
is  wanting,  and  that  consequently  there  is  nothing  to  be 
done,  the  young  lady  lays  her  doll  upon  the  state  bed, 
if  the  doll  be  not  twice  as  large  as  the  bed,  and  falls  fast 
asleep  in  the  midst  of  her  felicity. 

Before  dolls,  baby-houses,  coaches,  and  cups  and  sau- 
cers, there  comes  a  set  of  toys,  which  are  made  to  imi- 
tate the  actions  of  men  and  women,  and  the  notes  or 
noises  of  birds  and  beasts.  Many  of  these  are  ingenious 
in  their  construction,  and  happy  in  their  effect ;  but  that 
effect,  unfortunately,  is  transitory.  When  the  wooden 
woman  has  churned  her  hour  in  her  empty  churn ;  when 
the  stiff-backed  man  has  hammered  or  sawed  till  his 
arms  are  broken,  or  till  his  employers  are  tired  ;  when 
the  gilt  lamb  has  baaed,  the  obstinate  pig  squeaked,  and 
the  provoking  cuckoo  cried  cuck-oo,  till  no  one  in  the 
house  can  endure  the  noise ;  what  remains  to  be  done  1 
— Wo  betide  the  unlucky  little  philosopher,  who  should 
think  of  inquiring  why  the  woman  churned,  or  how  the 
bird  cried  cuck-oo ;  for  it  is  ten  to  one  that  in  prosecu- 
ting such  an  inquiry,  just  when  he  is  upon  the  eve  of  dis- 
covery, he  snaps  the  wire,  or  perforates  the  bellows, 


16  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

and  there  ensue  "  a  deathlike  silence  and  a  dread  re 
pose." 

The  grief  which  is  felt  for  spoiling  a  new  plaything 
might  be  borne,  if  it  were  not  increased,  as  it  commonly 
is,  by  the  reproaches  of  friends ;  much  kind  eloquence, 
upon  these  occasions,  is  frequently  displayed,  to  bring 
the  sufferer  to  a  proper  sense  of  his  folly,  till,  in  due  time, 
the  contrite  corners  of  his  mouth  are  drawn  down,  his 
wide  eyes  fill  with  tears,  and,  without  knowing  what  he 
means,  he  promises  never  to  be  so  silly  any  more.  The 
future  safety  of  his  worthless  playthings  is  thus  pur- 
chased at  the  expense  of  his  understanding,  perhaps  of 
his  integrity  ;  for  children  seldom  scrupulously  adhere 
to  promise's  which  they  have  made  to  escape  from  im- 
pending punishment. 

We  have  ventured  to  object  to  some  fashionable  toys ; 
we  are  bound  at  least  to  propose  others  in  their  place  ; 
and  we  shall  take  the  matter  up  soberly  from  the  nursery. 

The  first  toys  for  infants  should  be  merely  such  things 
as  may  be  grasped  without  danger,  and  which  might,  by 
the  difference  of  their  sizes,  invite  comparison :  round 
ivory  or  wooden  sticks  should  be  put  into  their  little 
hands ;  by  degrees  they  will  learn  to  lift  them  to  their 
mouths,  and  they  will  distinguish  their  sizes :  square 
and  circular  bits  of  wood,  balls,  cubes,  and  triangles, 
with  holes  of  different  sizes  made  in  them,  to  admit  the 
sticks,  should  be  their  playthings.  No  greater  appara- 
tus is  necessary  for  the  amusement  of  the  first  months 
of  an  infant's  life.  To  ease  the  pain  which  they  feel 
from  cutting  teeth,  infants  generally  carry  to  their 
mouths  whatever  they  can  lay  their  hands  upon ;  but 
they  soon  learn  to  distinguish  those  bodies  which  re- 
lieve their  pain  from  those  which  gratify  their  palate  ; 
aisuL,  :."  they  are  left  to  themselves,  they  will  always 
choose  what  is  painted  in  preference  to  every  thing 
else ;  nor  must  we  attribute  the  look  of  delight  with 
which  they  seize  toys  that  are  painted  red,  merely  to 
the  pleasure  which  t.heir  eye  takes  in  the  bright  colour, 
but  to  the  love  o:  the  3  vee,  taste  viiicn  ihey  suck  from 
the  paint.  What  injury  may  be  done  to  the  health  by 
the  quantity  of  lead  which  is  thus  swallowed,  we  will 
not  pretend  to  determine ;  but  we  refer  to  a  medical 
name  of  high  authority,*  whose  cautions  probably  will 

*  Dr.  Fothergill. 


TOYS.  17 

not  be  treated  with  neglect.  To  gratify  the  eye  with 
glittering  objects,  if  this  be  necessary,  may  be  done 
with  more  safety  by  toys  of  tin  and  polished  iron  :  a 
common  steel  button  is  a  more  desirable  plaything  to  a 
young  child  than  many  expensive  toys  ;  a  few  such  but- 
tons tied  together,  so  as  to  prevent  any  danger  of  their 
being  swallowed,  would  continue  for  some  time  a  source 
of  amusement. 

When  a  nurse  wants  to  please  or  to  pacify  a  child,  she 
stuns  its  ear  with  a  variety  of  noises,  o-r  dazzles  its  eye 
with  glaring  colours  or  stimulating  light.  The  eye  and 
the  ear  are  thus  fatigued  without  advantage,  and  the 
temper  is  hushed  to  a  transient  calm  by  expedients, 
which  in  time  must  lose  their  effect,  and  which  can 
have  no  power  over  confirmed  fretfulness.  The  pleas- 
ure of  exercising  their  senses  is  in  itself  sufficient  to 
children,  without  any  factitious  stimulus,  which  only  ex- 
hausts their  excitability,  and  renders  them  incapable  of 
being  amused  by  a  variety  of  common  objects,  which 
would  naturally  be  their  entertainment.  We  do  not 
here  speak  of  the  attempts  made  to  sooth  a  child  who 
is  ill  :  "  to  charm  the  sense  of  pain,"  so  far  as  it  can  be 
done  by  diverting  the  child's  attention  from  his  own 
sufferings  to  outward  objects,  is  humane  and  reasonable, 
provided  our  compassion  does  not  induce  in  the  child's 
mind  the  expectation  of  continual  attendance,  and  that 
impatience  of  temper  which  increases  bodily  suffering. 
It  would  be  in  vain  to  read  lectures  on  philosophy  to  a 


nurse,  or  to  expect  stoicism  from  an  infant  ;  but,  per- 
y attention  themselves  to  their 
children,  they  will  be  able  to  prevent  many  of  the  con- 


haps, where  mothers  pay  attention  themselves  to  their 


sequences  of  vulgar  prejudice  and  folly.  A  nurse's  wish 
is  to  have  as  little  trouble  as  possible  with  the  child 
committed  to  her  charge,  and  at  the  same  time  to  flatter 
the  mother,  from  whom  she  expects  her  reward.  The 
appearance  of  extravagant  fondness  for  the  child,  of 
incessant  attention  to  its  humour,  and  absurd  submission 
to  its  caprices,  she  imagines  to  be  the  surest  method  of 
recommending  herself  to  favour.  She  is  not  to  be  im- 
posed upon  by  the  faint  and  affected  rebukes  of  the  fond 
mother,  who  exclaims,  "  Oh,  nurse,  indeed  you  do  spoil 
that  child  sadly  !  —  Oh,  nurse,  upon  my  word,  she  gov- 
erns you  entirely  !  —  Nurse,  you  must  not  let  her  have 
her  own  way  always.  —  Never  mind  her  crying,  I  beg, 
nurse."  —  Nurse  smiles,  sees  that  she  has  gained  her 


18  PRACTICAL     EDUCATION. 

point,  and  promises  .what  she  knows  it  is  not  expected 
she  should  perform.  Now  if,  on  the  contrary,  she  per- 
ceived that  the  mother  was  neither  to  be  flattered  nor 
pleased  by  these  means,  one  motive  for  spoiling  the 
child  would  immediately  cease :  another  strong  one 
would,  it  is  true,  still  remain.  A  nurse  wishes  to  save 
herself  trouble,  and  she  frequently  consults  her  own  con- 
venience when  she  humours  an  infant.  She  hushes  it 
to  sleep,  that  she  may  leave  it  safely  ;  she  stops  it  from 
crying,  that  she  may  not  hear  an  irritating  noise,  that 
she  may  relieve  herself  as  soon  as  possible  from  the 
painful  weakness  of  compassion,  or  that  she  may  avoid 
the  danger  of  being  interrogated  by  the  family  as  to  the 
cause  of  the  disturbance.  It  is  less  trouble  to  her  to 
yield  to  caprice  and  ill- humour  than  to  prevent  or  cure 
it,  or  at  least  she  thinks  it  is  so.  In  reality  it  is  not ; 
for  a  humoured  child  in  time  plagues  its  attendant  infi- 
nitely more  than  it  would  have  done  with  reasonable 
management.  If  it  were  possible  to  convince  nurses  of 
this,  they  would  sacrifice  perhaps  the  convenience  of  a 
moment  to  the  peace  of  future  hours  ;  and  they  would 
not  be  eager  to  quell  one  storm  at  the  hazard  of  being 
obliged  to  endure  twenty  more  boisterous ;  the  candle 
would  then  no  more  be  thrust  almost  into  the  infant's 
eyes  to  make  it  take  notice  of  the  light  through  the 
mist  of  tears,  the  eternal  bunch  of  keys  would  not  dance 
and  jingle  at  every  peevish  summons,  nor  would  the 
roarings  of  passion  be  overpowered  by  insulting  songs, 
or  soothed  by  artful  caresses  ;  the  child  would  then  be 
caressed  and  amused  when  he  looks  smiling  and  good- 
humoured,  and  all  parties  would  be  much  happier. 

Practical  education  begins  very  early,  even  in  the 
nursery.  Without  the  mountebank  pretence,  that  mira- 
cles can  be  performed  by  the  turning  of  a  straw,  or  the 
dictatorial  anathematizing  tone,  which  calls  down  ven- 
geance upon  those  who  do  not  follow  to  an  iota  the  in- 
junctions of  a  theorist,  we  may  simply  observe,  that 
parents  would  save  themselves  a  great  deal  of  trouble, 
and  their  children  some  pain,  if  they  would  pay  some 
attention  to  their  early  education.  The  temper  acquires 
habits  much  earlier  than  is  usually  apprehended ;  the 
first  impressions  which  infants  receive,  and  the  first 
habits  which  they  learn  from  their  nurses,,  influence 
the  temper  and  disposition  long  after  the  slight  causes 
which  produced  them  are  forgotten.  More  care  and 


TOYS.  19 

judgment  than  usually  fall  to  the  share  of  a  nurse  are 
necessary,  to  cultivate  the  disposition  which  infants 
show  to  exercise  their  senses,  so  as  neither  to  suffer 
them  to  become  indolent  and  torpid  from  want  of  proper 
objects  to  occupy  their  attention,  nor  yet  to  exhaust 
their  senses  by  continual  excitation.  By  ill-timed  re- 
straints or  injudicious  incitements,  the  nurse  frequently 
renders  the  child  obstinate  or  passionate.  An  infant 
should  never  be  interrupted  in  its  operations;  while  it 
wishes  to  use  its  hands,  we  should  not-  be  impatient  to 
make  it  walk  ;  or  when  it  is  pacing1,  with  all  the  atten- 
tion to  its  centre  of  gravity  that  is  exerted  by  a  rope- 
dancer,  suddenly  arrest  its  progress,  and  insist  upon  its 
pronouncing  the  scanty  vocabulary  which  we  have  com- 
pelled it  to  learn.  When  children  are  busily  trying  ex- 
periments upon  objects  within  their  reach,  we  should 
not,  by  way  of  saving  them  trouble,  break  the  course 
of  their  ideas,  and  totally  prevent  them  from  acquiring 
knowledge  by  their  own  experience.  When  a  foolish 
nurse  sees  a  child  attempting  to  reach  or  lift  any  thing, 
she  runs  immediately — "  Oh,  dear  love,  it  can't  do  it,  it 
can't !— Pll  do  it  for  it,  so  I  will !"  If  the  child  be  try- 
ing the  difference  between  pushing  and  pulling,  rolling 
or  sliding,  the  powers  of  the  wedge  or  the  lever,  the  offi- 
cious nurse  hastens  instantly  to  display  her  own  knowl- 
edge of  the  mechanic  powers  :  "  Stay,  love,  stay  ;  that 
is  not  the  way  to  do  it — I'll  show  it  the  right  way — see 
here — look  at  me,  love."  Without  interrupting  the 
child  in  the  moment  of  action,  proper  care  might  be 
previously  taken  to  remove  out  of  its  way  those  things 
which  can  really  hurt  it ;  and  a  just  degree  of  attention 
must  be  paid  to  its  first  experiments  upon  hard  and 
heavy,  and  more  especially  upon  sharp,  brittle,  and 
burning  bodies ;  but  this  degree  of  care  should  not  de- 
generate into  cowardice  ;  it  is  better  that  a  child  should 
tumble  down  or  burn  its  fingers,  than  that  it  should  not 
learn  the  use  of  its  limbs  and  its  senses.  We  should 
for  another  reason  take  care  to  put  all  dangerous  things 
effectually  out  of  the  child's  reach,  instead  of  saying 
\  perpetually,  "  Take  care,  don't  touch  that  I—don't  do 
that ! — let  that  alone !"  The  child,  who  scarcely  under- 
stands the  words,  and  not  at  all  the  reason  of  these 
prohibitions,  is  frightened  by  the  tone  and  countenance 
with  which  they  are  uttered  and  accompanied,  and  he 
either  becomes  indolent  or  cunning ;  either  he  desists 


20  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

from  exertion,  or  seizes  the  moment  to  divert  himself 
with  forbidden  objects,  when  the  watchful  eye  that 
guards  them  is  withdrawn.  It  is  in  vain  to  encompass 
the  restless  prisoner  with  a  fortification  of  chairs,  and 
to  throw  him  an  old  almanac  to  tear  to  pieces,  or  an  old 
pincushion  to  explore  ;  the  enterprising  adventurer  soon 
makes  his  escape  from  his  barricado,  leaves  his  goods 
behind  him,  and  presently  is  again  in  what  the  nurse 
calls  mischief. 

Mischief  is  with  nurses  frequently  only  another  name 
for  any  species  of  activity  which  they  find  troublesome ; 
the  love  which  children  are  supposed  to  have  for  putting 
things  out  of  their  places,  is  in  reality  the  desire  of  see- 
ing things  in  motion,  or  of  putting  things  into  different 
situations.  They  will  like  to  put  the  furniture  in  a  room 
in  its  proper  place,  and  to  arrange  every  thing  in  what 
we  call  order,  if  we  can  make  these  equally  permanent 
sources  of  active  amusement ;  but  when  things  are  once 
in  their  places,  the  child  has  nothing  more  to  do ;  and 
the  more  quickly  each  chair  arrives  at  its  destined 
situation,  the  sooner  comes  the  dreaded  state  of  idle- 
ness and  quiet. 

A  nursery,  or  a  room  in  which  young  children  are  to 
live,  should  never  have  any  furniture  in  it  which  they 
can  spoil ;  as  few  things  as  possible  should  be  left  within 
their  reach  which  they  are  not  to  touch,  and  at  the  same 
time  they  should  be  provided  with  the  means  of  amusing 
themselves,  not  with  painted  or  gilt  toys,  but  with  pieces 
of  wood  of  various  shapes  and  sizes,  which  they  may- 
build  up  and  pull  down,  and  put  in  a  variety  of  different 
forms  and  positions  ;  balls,  pulleys,  wheels,  strings,  and 
strong  little  carts,  proportioned  to  their  age,  and  to  the 
things  which  they  want  to  carry  in  them,  should  be  their 
playthings. 

Prints  will  be  entertaining  to  children  at  a  very  early 
age  ;  it  would  be  endless  to  enumerate  the  uses  that 
may  be  made  of  them ;  they  teach  accuracy  of  sight, 
they  engage  the  attention,  and  employ  the  imagination. 

In  1777  we  saw  L ,  a  child  of  two  years  old,  point 

out  every  piece  of  furniture  in  the  French  prints  of  Gil 
Bias :  in  the  print  of  the  Canon  at  Dinner,  he  distin- 
guished the  knives,  forks,  spoons,  bottles,  and  every 
thing  upon  the  table  :  the  dog  lying  upon  the  mat,  and 
the  bunch  of  keys  hanging  at  Jacintha's  girdle  ;  he  told, 
with  much  readiness,  the  occupation  of  every  figure  in 


TOYS.  21 

the  print,  and  could  supply,  from  his  imagination,  what 
is  supposed  to  be  hidden  by  the  foremost  parts  of  all  the 
objects.  A  child  of  four  years  old  was  asked  what  was 
meant  by  something  that  was  very  indistinctly  repre- 
sented as  hanging  round  the  arm  of  a  figure  in  one  of 
the  prints  of  the  London  Cries.  He  said  it  was  a  glove ; 
though  it  had  as  little  resemblance  to  a  glove  as  to  a 
riband  or  a  purse.  When  he  was  asked  how  he  knew 
that  it  was  a  glove,  he  answered,  "  that  it  ought  to  be 
a  glove,  because  the  woman  had  one  upon  her  other 
arm,  and  none  upon  that  where  the  thing  was  hanging." 
Having  seen  the  gown  of  a  female  figure  in  a  print 
hanging  obliquely,  the  same  child  said,  "  The  wind 
blows  that  woman's  gown  back."  We  mention  these 
little  circumstances  from  real  life,  to  show  how  early 
prints  may  be  an  amusement  to  children,  and  how 
quickly  things  unknown  are  learnt  by  the  relations 
which  they  bear  to  what  was  known  before.  We  should 
at  the  same  time  observe,  that  children  are  very  apt  to 
make  strange  mistakes  and  hasty  conclusions,  when 
they  begin  to  reason  from  analogy.  A  child  having 
asked  what  was  meant  by  some  marks  in  the  forehead 
of  an  old  man  in  a  print,  and  having  been  told,  upon 
some  occasion,  that  old  people  were  wiser  than  young 
ones,  brought  a  print  containing  several  figures  to  his 
mother,  and  told  her  that  one,  which  he  pointed  to,  was 
wiser  than  all  the  rest ;  upon  inquiry,  it  was  found  that 
he  had  formed  this  notion  from  seeing  that  one  figure 
was  wrinkled,  and  that  the  others  were  not. 

Prints  for  children  should  be  chosen  with  great  care ; 
they  should  represent  objects  which  are  familiar ;  the 
resemblances  should  be  accurate,  and  the  manners 
should  be  attended  to ;  or,  at  least,  the  general  moral 
that  is  to  be  drawn  from  them.  The  attitude  of  Se- 
phora,  the  boxing  lady  in  Gil  Bias,  must  appear  unnatural 
to  children  who  have  not  lived  with  termagant  heroines. 
Perhaps  the  first  ideas  of  grace,  beauty,  and  propriety, 
are  considerably  influenced  by  the  first  pictures  and 
prints  which  please  children.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  tells 
us,  that  he  took  a  child  with  him  through  a  room  full  of 
pictures,  and  that  the  child  stopped,  with  signs  of  aver- 
sion, whenever  it  came  to  any  picture  of  a  figure  in  a 
constrained  attitude. 

Children  soon  judge  tolerably  well  of  proportion  in 
drawing,  where  they  have  been  used  to  see  the  objects 


PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

which  are  represented :  but  we  often  give  them  prints 
of  objects,  and  of  animals  especially,  which  they  have 
never  seen,  and  in  which  no  sort  of  proportion  is  ob- 
served. The  common  prints  of  animals  must  give  children 
false  ideas.  The  mouse  and  the  elephant  are  nearly  of 
the  same  size,  and  the  crocodile  and  whale  fill  the  same 
space  in  the  page.  Painters,  who  put  figures  of  men 
among  their  buildings,  give  the  idea  of  the  proportionate 
height  immediately  to  the  eye  :  this  is,  perhaps,  the 
best  scale  we  can  adopt ;  in  every  print  for  children 
this  should  be  attended  to.  Some  idea  of  the  relative 
sizes  of  the  animals  they  see  represented  would  then 
be  given,  and  the  imagination  would  not  be  filled  with 
chimeras. 

After  having  been  accustomed  to  examine  prints,  and 
to  trace  their  resemblance  to  real  objects,  children  will 
probably  wish  to  try  their  own  power  of  imitation.  At 
this  moment  no  toy  which  we  could  invent  for  them, 
would  give  them  half  so  much  pleasure  as  a  pencil.  If 
we  put  a  pencil  into  their  hands,  even  before  they  are 
able  to  do  any  thing  with  it  but  make  random  marks  all 
over  a  sheet  of  paper,  it  will  long  continue  a  real  amuse- 
ment and  occupation.  No  matter  how  rude  their  first 
attempts  at  imitation  may  be ;  if  the  attention  of  chil- 
dren be  occupied,  our  point  is  gained.  Girls  have  gen- 
erally one  advantage  at  this  age  over  boys,  in  the  ex- 
clusive possession  of  the  scissors :  how  many  camels, 
and  elephants  with  amazing  trunks,  are  cut  out  by  the 
industrious  scissors  of  a  busy,  and  therefore  happy  little 
girl,  during  a  winter  evening,  which  passes  so  heavily, 
and  appears  so  immeasurably  long,  to  the  idle. 

Modelling  in  clay  or  wax  might  probably  be  a  useful 
amusement  about  this  age,  if  the  materials  were  so  pre- 
pared that  the  children  could  avoid  being  every  mo- 
ment troublesome  to  others  while  they  are  at  work. 
The  making  of  baskets,  and  the  weaving  of  sash-line, 
might  perhaps  be  employment  for  children ;  with  proper 
preparations,  they  might  at  least  be  occupied  with  these 
things ;  much,  perhaps,  might  not  be  produced  by  their 
labours,  but  it  is  a  great  deal  to  give  early  habits  of  in- 
dustry. Let  us  do  what  we  will,  every  person  who  has 
ever  had  any  experience  upon  the  subject,  must  know 
that  is  scarcely  possible  to  provide  sufficient  and  suit- 
able occupations  for  young  children  :  this  is  one  of  the 
first  difficulties  in  education.  Those  who  have  never 


TOYS.  23 

tried  the  experiment,  are  astonished  to  find  it  such  a 
difficult  and  laborious  business  as  it  really  is,  to  find  em- 
ployments for  children  from  three  to  six  years  old.  It 
is  perhaps  better  that  our  pupils  should  be  entirely  idle, 
than  that  they  should  be  half  employed.  **  My  dear, 

\  have  you  nothing  to  do  I"  should  be  spoken  in  sorrow 
rather  than  in  anger.  When  they  see  other  people  em- 
ployed and  happy,  children  feel  mortified  and  miserable 
to  have  nothing  to  do.  Count  Rumford's  was  an  excel- 
lent scheme  for  exciting  sympathetic- industry  among 
the  children  of  the  poor  at  Munich ;  in  the  large  hall, 
where  the  elder  children  were  busy  in  spinning,  there 
was  a  range  of  seats  for  the  younger  children,  who 
were  not  yet  permitted  to  work ;  these  being  compelled 
to  sit  idle,  and  to  see  the  busy  multitude,  grew  ex- 
tremely uneasy  in  their  own  situation,  and  became  very 

•  anxious  to  be  employed.  We  need  not  use  any  com- 
pulsion or  any  artifice  ;  parents  in  every  family,  we  sup- 
pose, who  think  of  educating  their  own  children,  are 
employed  some  hours  in  the  day  in  reading,  writing, 
business,  or  conversation ;  during  these  hours,  children 
will  naturally  feei  the  want  of  occupation,  and  will, 
from  sympathy,  from  ambition,  and  from  impatience  of 
insupportable  ennui,  desire  with  anxious  faces  "  to  have 
something  to  do."  Instead  of  loading  them  with  play- 
things, by  way  of  relieving  their  misery,  we  should 
honestly  tell  them,  if  that  be  the  truth,  "  I  am  sorry 
I  cannot  find  any  thing  for  you  to  do  at  present.  I  hope 
you  will  soon  be  able  to  employ  yourself.  What  a 
happy  thing  it  will  be  for  you  to  be  able,  by-aiid-by,  to 
read,  and  write,  and  draw ;  then  you  will  never  be 
forced  to  sit  idle." 

The  pains  of  idleness  stimulate  children  to  industry, 
if  they  are  from  time  to  time  properly  contrasted  with 
the  pleasures  of  occupation.  We  should  associate 
cheerfulness,  and  praise,  and  looks  of  approbation,  with 
industry;  and  whenever  young  people  invent  employ- 
ments for  themselves,  they  should  be  assisted  as  much 
as  possible,  and  encouraged.  At  that  age  when  they 
are  apt  to  grow  tired  in  half  an  hour  of  their  play- 
things, we  had  better  give  them  playthings  only  for  a 
very  short  time,  at  intervals  in  the  day  ;  and,  instead  of 
waiting  till  they  are  tired,  we  should  take  the  things 
away  before  they  are  weary  of  them.  Nor  should  we 
discourage  the  inquisitive  genius  from  examining  into 


24  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

the  structure  of  their  toys,  whatever  they  may  be.  The 
same  ingenious  and  active  dispositions  which  prompt 
these  inquiries,  will  secure  children  from  all  those  nu- 
merous temptations  to  do  mischief,  to  which  the  idle 
M.e  exposed.  Ingenious  children  are  pleased  with  con- 
'.rirances  which  answer  the  purposes  for  which  they  are 
Amended ;  and  they  feel  sincere  regret  whenever  these 
are  injured  or  destroyed :  this  we  mention  as  a  further 
comfort  and  security  for  parents,  who,  in  the  company 
of  young  mechanics,  are  apt  to  tremble  for  their  furni- 
ture. Children  who  observe,  and  who  begin  to  amuse 
themselves  with  thought,  are  not  so  actively  hostile  in 
their  attacks  upon  inanimate  objects.  We  were  once 
present  at  the  dissection  of  a  wooden  cuckoo,  which 
was  attended  with  extreme  pleasure  by  a  large  family 
of  children ;  and  it  was  not  one  of  the  children  who 
broke  the  precious  toy,  but  it  was  the  father  who  took 
it  to  pieces.  Nor  was  it  the  destruction  of  the  play- 
thing which  entertained  the  company,  but  the  sight  of 
the  manner  in  which  it  was  constructed.  Many  guesses 
were  made  by  all  the  spectators  about  the  internal  struc- 
ture of  the  cuckoo,  and  the  astonishment  of  the  company 
was  universal,  when  the  bellows  were  cut  open  and  the 
simple  contrivance  was  revealed  to  view ;  probably,  more 
was  learned  from  this  cuckoo,  than  was  ever  learned  from 
any  cuckoo  before.  So  far  from  being  indifferent  to  the 

destruction  of  this  plaything,  H ,  the  little  girl  of  four 

years  old  to  whom  it  belonged,  remembered,  several 
months  afterward,  to  remind  her  father  of  his  promise 
to  repair  the  mischief  he  had  done. 

"  Several  toys  which  are  made  at  present,  are  calcu- 
lated to  give  pleasure  merely  by  exciting  surprise ;  and 
of  course  give  children's  minds  such  a  tone,  that  they 
are  afterward  too  fond  of  similar  useless  baubles"*  This 
species  of  delight  is  soon  over,  and  is  succeeded  by  a 
desire  to  triumph  in  the  ignorance,  the  credulity,  or  the 
cowardice,  of  their  companions.  Hence  that  propensity 
to  play  tricks,  which  is  often  injudiciously  encouraged 
by  the  smiles  of  parents,  who  are  apt  to  mistake  it  for 
a  proof  of  wit  and  vivacity.  They  forget,  that  "  gentle 
dulness  ever  lov'd  a  joke ;"  and  that  even  wit  and  viva- 
city, if  they  become  troublesome  end  mischievous,  will 
be 'feared  and  shunned.  Many  juggling  tricks  an;,  puz- 

*  Dr.  Beddoes 


Vovs.  25 

zles  are  highly  ingenious ;  and,  as  far  as  they  can  exer- 
cise the  invention  or  the  patience  of  young  people,  they 
are  useful.  Care,  however,  should  be  taken  to  separate 
the  ideas  of  deceit  and  of  ingenuity,  and  to  prevent  chil- 
dren from  glorying  in  the  mere  possession  of  a  secret. 

Toys  which  afford  trials  of  dexterity  and  activity, 
such  as  tops,  kites,  hoops,  balls,  battledoors  and  shut- 
tlecocks, ninepins,  and  cup-and-ball,  are  excellent ;  and 
we  see  that  they  are  consequently  great  and  lasting  fa- 
vourites with  children ,  their  senses,  their  understand- 
ing, and  their  passions,  are  all  agreeably  interested  and 
exercised  by  these  amusements.  They  emulate  each 
other ;  but,  as  some  will  probably  excel  at  one  game, 
and  some  at  another,  this  emulation  will  not  degenerate 
into  envy.  There  is  more  danger  that  this  hateful  pas- 
sion should  be  created  in  the  minds  of  young  competi- 
tors at  those  games,  where  it  is  supposed  that  some 
knack  or  mystery  is  to  be  learned  before  they  can  be 
played  with  success.  Whenever  children  play  at  such 
games,  we  should  point  out  to  them  how  and  why  it  is 
that  they  succeed  or  fail ;  we  may  show  them,  that  in 
reality,  there  is  no  knack  or  mystery  in  any  thing,  but  that 
from  certain  causes  certain  effects  will  follow  ;  that, 
after  trying  a  number  of  experiments,  the  circumstances 
essential  to  success  may  be  discovered  ;  and  that  all  the 
ease  and  dexterity  which  we  often  attribute  to  the 
power  of  natural  genius,  is  simply  the  consequence  of 
practice  and  industry.  This  sober  lesson  may  be  taught 
to  children  without  putting  it  into  grave  words  or  formal 
precepts.  A  gentleman  once  astonished  a  family  of 
children  by  his  dexterity  in  playing  at  bilboquet;  he 
caught  the  ball  nine  or  ten  times  successively  with  great 
rapidity  upon  the  spike  :  this  success  appeared  miracu- 
lous ;  and  the  father,  who  observed  that  it  had  made  a 
great  impression  upon  the  little  spectators,  took  that 
opportunity  to  show  the  use  of  spinning  the  ball,  to 
make  the  hole  at  the  bottom  ascend  in  a  proper  direc- 
tion. The  nature  of  centrifugal  motion,  and  its  effect 
in  preserving  the  parallelism  of  motion,  if  we  may  be  al- 
lowed the  expression,  were  explained,  not  at  once,  but  at 
different  intervals,  to  the  young  audience.  Only  as 
much  was  explained  at  a  time  as  the  children  could  un- 
derstand, without  fatiguing  their  attention  ;  and  the  ab- 
struse subject  was  made  familiar  by  the  mode  of  illustra- 
tion thar  was  adopted. 

2 


26  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION 

It  is  surprising  how  much  children  may  learn  from 
their  playthings,  when  they  are  judiciously  chosen,  and 
when  the  habit  of  reflection  and  observation  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  ideas  of  amusement  and  happiness.  A 
little  boy  of  nine  years  old,  who  had  had  a  hoop  to  play 
with,  asked  why  a  hoop,  or  a  plate,  if  rolled  upon  its 
edge,  keeps  up  as  long  as  it  rolls,  but  falls  as  soon  as  it 
stops,  and  will  not  stand  if  you  try  to  make  it  stand  still 
upon  its  edge  1  Was  not  the  boy's  understanding  as 
well  employed  while  he  was  thinking  of  this  phenome- 
non, which  he  observed  while  he  was  beating  his  hoop, 
as  it  could  possibly  have  been  by  the  most  learned  pre- 
ceptor? 

When  a  pedantic*  schoolmaster  sees  a  boy  eagerly 
watching  a  paper  kite,  he  observes,  "  What  a  pity  it  is 
that  children  cannot  be  made  to  mind  their  grammar  as 
well  as  their  kites  !"  And  he  adds,  perhaps,  some  pee- 
vish ejaculation  on  the  natural  idleness  of  boys,  and  that 
pernicious  love  of  play  against  which  he  is  doomed  to 
wage  perpetual  war.  A  man  of  sense  will  see  the  same 
thing  with  a  different  eye ;  in  this  pernicious  love  of 
play  he  will  discern  the  symptoms  of  a  love  of  science, 
and,  instead  of  deploring  the  natural  idleness  of  children, 
he  will  admire  the  activity  which  they  display  in  the 
pursuit  of  knowledge.  He  will  feel  that  it  is  his  busi- 
ness to  direct  this  activity,  to  furnish  his  pupil  with  ma- 
terials for  fresh  combinations,  to  put  him  or  to  let  him 
put  himself,  in  situations  where  he  can  make  useful  ob- 
servations, and  acquire  that  experience  which  cannot  be 
bought,  and  which  no  masters  can  communicate. 

It  will  not  be  beneath  the  dignity  of  a  philosophic  tutor 
to  consider  the  different  effects  which  the  most  common 
plays  of  children  have  upon  the  habits  of  the  understand- 
ing and  temper.  Whoever  has  watched  children  put- 
ting together  a  dissected  map,  must  have  been  amused 
with  the  trial  between  Wit  and  Judgment.  The  child, 
who  quickly  perceives  resemblances,  catches  instantly 
at  the  first  bit  of  the  wooden  map  that  has  a  single  hook 
or  hollow  that  seems  likely  to  answer  his  purpose ;  he 
makes,  perhaps,  twenty  different  trials  before  he  hits 
upon  the  right ;  while  the  wary  youth,  who  has  been 
accustomed  to  observe  differences,  cautiously  examines 
with  his  eye  the  whole  outline  before  his  hand  begins 
to  move  ;  and,  having  exactly  compared  the  two  inden- 
tures, he  joins  them  with  sober  confidence,  more  proud 


TOYS. 


27 


of  never  disgracing  his  judgment  by  a  fruitless  attempt, 
than  ambitious  of  rapid  success.  He  is  slow,  but  sure, 
and  wins  the  day. 

There  are  some  plays  which  require  presence  of  mind, 
and  which  demand  immediate  attention  to  what  is  actu- 
ally going  forward,  in  which  children,  capable  of  the 
greatest  degree  of  abstract  attention,  are  most  apt  to  be 
defective.  They  have  many  ideas,  but  none  of  them 
ready  ;  and  their  knowledge  is  useless,  because  it  is  rec- 
ollected a  moment  too  late.  Could  we',  in  suitably  dig- 
nified language,  describe  the  game  of  "  birds,  beasts,  and 
fishes,"  we  should  venture  to  prescribe  it  as  no  very 
painful  remedy  for  these  absent  and  abstracted  person- 
ages. When  the  handkerchief  or  the  ball  is  thrown, 
and  when  his  bird's  name  is  called  for,  the  absent  little 
philosopher  is  obliged  to  collect  his  scattered  thoughts 
instantaneously,  or  else  he  exposes  himself  to  the  ridi- 
cule of  naming,  perhaps,  a  fish  or  a  beast,  or  any  bird 
but  the  right.  To  those  children,  who,  on  the  contrary, 
are  not  sufficiently  apt  to  abstract  their  attention,  and 
who  are  what  Bacon  calls  "  bird  wilted,"  we  should  rec- 
ommend a  solitary-board.  At  the  solitary-board,  they 
must  withdraw  their  thoughts  from  all  external  objects, 
hear  nothing  that  is  said,  and  fix  their  attention  solely 
upon  the  figure  and  the  pegs  before  them,  else  they  will 
never  succeed  ;  and,  if  they  make  one  error  in  their  cal- 
culations, they  lose  all  their  labour.  Those  who  are 
precipitate,  and  not  sufficiently  attentive  to  the  conse- 
quences of  their  own  actions,  may  receive  many  salu- 
tary lessons  at  the  draught  or  chess-board — happy,  if 
they  can  learn  prudence  and  foresight  by  frequently 
losing  the  battle. 

We  are  not  quite  so  absurd  as  to  imagine,  that  any 
great  or  permanent  effects  can  be  produced  by  such 
slight  causes  as  a  game  at  draughts,  or  at  a  solitary- 
board  ,  but  the  combination  of  a  number  of  apparent  tri- 
fles is  not  to  be  neglected  in  education. 

We  have  never  yet  mentioned  what  will  probably  first 
occur  to  those  who  would  invent  employments  for  chil- 
dren. We  have  never  yet  mentioned  a  garden;  we 
nave  never  mentioned  those  great  delights  to  children, 
H  spade,  a  hoe,  a  rake,  and  a  wheelbarrow.  We  hold 
all  these  in  proper  respect ;  but  we  did  not  sooner  men- 
tion them,  because,  if  introduced  too  early,  they  are 
useless.  We  must  not  expect  that  a  boy  six  or  seven 
B2 


28  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

years  old,  can  find,  for  any, length  of  time,  sufficient 
daily  occupation  in  a  garden :  he  has  not  strength  for 
hard  labour ;  he  can  dig  soft  earth  ;  he  can  weed  ground- 
sel, and  other  weeds,  which  take  no  deep  root  in  the 
earth ;  but  after  he  has  weeded  his  little  garden,  and 
sowed  his  seeds,  there  must  be  a  suspension  of  his  la- 
bours. Frequently  children,  for  want  of  something  to 
do,  when  they  have  sowed  flower-seeds  in  their  crooked 
beds,  dig  up  the  hopes  of  the  year  to  make  a  new  walk, 
or  to  sink  a  well  in  their  garden.  We  mention  these 
things,  that  parents  may  not  be  disappointed,  or  expect 
more  from  the  occupation  of  a  garden  than  it  can,  at  a 
very  early  age,  afford.  A  garden  is  an  excellent  re- 
source for  children,  but  they  should  have  a  variety  of 
other  occupations :  rainy  days  will  come,  and  frost  and 
snow,  and  then  children  must  be  occupied  within  doors. 
We  immediately  think  of  a  little  set  of  carpenter's  tools, 
to  supply  them  with  active  amusement.  Boys  will  prob- 
ably be  more  inclined  to  attempt  making  models  than 
drawings,  of  the  furniture  which  appears  to  be  the  most 
easy  to  imitate ;  they  will  imagine  that,  if  they  had  but 
tools,  they  could  make  boxes,  and  desks,  and  beds,  and 
chests  of  drawers,  and  tables  and  chairs  innumerable. 
But,  alas  !  these  fond  imaginations  are  too  soon  dissi- 
pated. Suppose  a  boy  of  seven  years  old  to  be  provided 
with  a  small  set  of  carpenters'  tools  ;  his  father  thinks, 
perhaps,  that  he  has  made  him  completely  happy ;  but 
a  week  afterward  the  father  finds  dreadful  marks  of  the 
file  and  saw  upon  his  mahogany  tables :  the  use  of  these 
tools  is  immediately  interdicted  until  a  bench  shall  be 
procured.  Week  after  week  passes  awaj',  till  at  length 
the  frequently  reiterated  speech  of  "  Papa,  you  bid  me 
put  you  in  mind  about  my  bench,"  has  its  effect,  and  the 
bench  appears.  Now  the  young  carpenter  thinks  he  is 
quite  set  up  in  the  world,  and  projects  carts  and  boxes, 
and  reading-desks  and  writing-desks  for  himself  and  for 
his  sisters,  if  he  have  any ;  but  when  he  comes  to  the 
execution  of  his  plans,  what  new  difficulties,  what  new 
wants  arise — the  wood  is  too  thick  or  too  thin  ;  it  splits, 
or  it  cannot  be  cut  with  a  knife ;  wire,  nails,  glue,  and 
above  all,  the  means  of  heating  the  glue,  are  wanting.  At 
last  some  frail  machine,  stuck  together  with  pegs  or  pins, 
is  produced,  and  the  workman  is  usually  either  too  much 
ridiculed  or  too  much  admired.  The  step  from  pegging 
to  mortising  is  a  very  difficult  step,  and  the  want  of  a 


TOYS.  29 

mortising-chisel  is  insuperable :  one  tool  is  called  upon 
to  do  the  duty  of  another,  and  the  pricker  comes  to  an 
untimely  end  in  doing-  the  hard  duty  of  the  punch ;  the 
saw  wants  setting;  the  plane  will  plane  no  longer;  and 
the  mallet  must  be  used  instead  of  the  hammer,  because 
the  hammer  makes  so  much  noise,  that  the  ladies  of  the 
family  have  voted  for  its  being  locked  up.  To  all  these 
various  evils  the  child  submits  in  despair ;  and  finding, 
after  many  fruitless  exertions,  that  he  cannot  make  any 
of  the  fine  things  he  haa  projected,  he- throws  aside  his 
tools,  and  is  deterred  by  these  disappointments  from 
future  industry  and  ingenuity.  Such  are  the  conse- 
quences of  putting  excellent  tools  into  the  hands  of  chil- 
dren before  they  can  possibly  use  them  :  but  the  tools 
which  are  useless  at  seven  years  old,  will  be  a  most 
valuable  present  at  eleven  or  twelve,  and  for  this  age  it 
will  be  prudent  to  reserve  them.  A  rational  toyshop 
should  be  provided  with  all  manner  of  carpenters'  tools, 
with  wood  properly  prepared  for  the  young  workman, 
and  with  screws,  nails,  glue,  emery-paper,  and  a  variety 
of  articles  which  it  would  be  tedious  to  enumerate  ;  but 
which,  if  parents  could  readily  meet  with  in  a  convenient 
assemblage,  they  would  willingly  purchase  for  their  chil- 
dren. The  trouble  of  hunting  through  a  number  of  dif- 
ferent shops,  prevents  them  at  present  from  purchasing 
such  things ;  besides,  they  may  not  perhaps  be  suffi- 
ciently good  carpenters  to  know  distinctly  every  thing 
that  is  necessary  for  a  young  workman. 

Card,  pasteboard,  substantial  but  not  sharp-pointed 
scissors,  wire,  gum  and  wax,  may,  in  some  degree,  sup- 
ply the  want  of  carpenters'  tools  at  that  early  age  when 
we  have  observed  that  the  saw  and  plane  are  useless. 
Models  of  common  furniture  should  be  made  as  toys, 
which  should  take  to  pieces,  so  that  all  their  parts,  and 
the  manner  in  which  they  are  put  together,  might  be 
seen  distinctly ;  the  name  of  the  different  parts  should 
be  written*  or  stamped  upon  them  :  by  these  means  the 
names  will  be  associated  with  realities  ;  children  will 
retain  them  in  their  memory,  and  they  will  neither  learn 
by  rote  technical  terms,  nor  will  they  be  retarded  in 
their  progress  in  mechanical  invention  by  the  want  of 
language.  Before  young  people  can  use  tools,  these 
models  will  amuse  and  exercise  their  attention.  From 

*  We  are  indebted  to  Dr.  Beddoes  for  this  idea. 


30  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

models  of  furniture  we  may  go  on  to  models  of  architec- 
ture ;  pillars  of  different  orders,  the  roofs  of  houses,  the 
manner  of  slating  and  tiling,  &c.  Then  we  may  proceed 
to  models  of  machines,  choosing  at  first  such  as  can  be 
immediately  useful  to  children  in  their  own  amusements, 
such  as  wheelbarrows,  carts,  cranes,  scales,  steelyards, 
jackSj  and  pumps,  which  children  ever  view  with  eager 
eyes. 

From  simple,  it  will  be  easy  to  proceed  gradually  to 
models  of  more  complicated  machinery:  it  would  be 
tiresome  to  give  a  list  of  these  ;  models  of  instruments 
used  by  manufacturers  and  artists  should  be  seen  ;  many 
of  these  are  extremely  ingenious;  spinning-wheels, 
looms,  papermills,  windmills,  watermills,  might  with 
great  advantage  be  shown  in  miniature  to  children. 

The  distracting  noise  and  bustle,  the  multitude  of  ob- 
jects which  all  claim  the  attention  at  once,  prevent 
young  people  from  understanding  much  of  what  they 
see,  when  they  are  first  taken  to  look  at  large  manufac- 
tories. If  they  had  previously  acquired  some  general 
idea  of  the  whole,  and  some  particular  knowledge  of  the 
different  parts,  they  would  not  stare  when  they  get  into 
these  places ;  they  would  not  "  stare  round,  see  nothing, 
and  come  home  content,"  bewildered  by  the  sight  of 
pogs  and  wheels ;  and  the  explanations  of  the  workmen 
would  not  be  all  jargon  to  them ;  they  would  understand 
some  of  the  technical  terms,  which  so  much  alarm  the 
intellects  of  those  who  hear  them  for  the  first  time. 

We  may  exercise  the  ingenuity  and  judgment  of  chil- 
dren by  these  models  of  machines,  by  showing  them 
first  the  thing  to  be  done,  and  exciting  them  to  invent 
the  best  means  of  doing  it ;  afterward,  give  the  models 
as  the  reward  for  their  ingenuity,  and  let  them  compare 
their  own  inventions  with  the  contrivances  actually  in 
use  among  artificers ;  by  these  means,  young  people 
may  be  led  to  compare  a  variety  of  different  contri- 
vances ;  they  will  discern  what  parts  of  a  machine  are 
superfluous,  and  what  inadequate,  and  they  will  class 
particular  observations  gradually  under  general  princi- 
ples. It  may  be  thought,  that  this  will  tend  to  give  chil- 
dren only  mechanical  invention ;  or  we  should  call  it, 
perhaps,  the  invention  of  machines :  and  those  who  do 
not  require  this  particular  talent,  will  despise  it  as  un- 
necessary in  what  are  called  the  liberal  professions. 
Without  attempting  to  compare  the  value  of  different 


TOYS.  31 

intellectual  talents,  we  may  observe,  that  they  are  all 
in  some  measure  dependant  upon  each  other.  Upon 
this  subject  we  shall  enlarge  more  fully,  when  we  come 
to  consider  the  method  of  cultivating  the  memory  and 
invention. 

Chymical  toys  will  be  more  difficult  to  manage  than 
mechanical,  because  the  materials  requisite  to  try  many 
chymical  experiments  are  such  as  cannot  safely  be  put 
into  the  hands  of  children.  But  a  list  of  experiments, 
and  of  the  things  necessary  to  try  them,  might  easily 
be  drawn  out  by  a  chymist  who  would  condescend  to 
such  a  task  ;  and  if  these  materials,  with  proper  direc- 
tions, were  to  be  found  at  a  rational  toyshop,  parents 
would  not  be  afraid  of  burning  or  poisoning  their  chil- 
dren in  the  first  chymical  lessons.  In  some  families, 
girls  are  taught  the  confectionary  art ;  might  not  this  be 
advantageously  connected  with  some  knowledge  of 
chymistry,  and  might  not  they  be  better  taught  than  by 
Mrs.  Rarfeld  or  Mrs.  Glass  1*  Every  culinary  operation 
may  be  performed  as  an  art,  probably,  as  well  by  a  cook 
as  by  a  chymist ;  but,  if  the  chymist  did  not  assist  the 
cook  now  and  then  with  a  little  science,  epicures  would 
have  great  reason  for  lamentation.  We  do  not,  by  any 
means,  advise  that  girls  should  be  instructed  in  confec- 
tionary arts,  at  the  hazard  of  their  keeping  company 
with  servants.  If  they  learn  any  thing  of  this  sort,  there 
will  be  many  precautions  necessary  to  separate  them 
from  servants :  we  do  not  advise  that  these  hazards 
should  be  run ;  but  if  girls  learn  confectionary,  let  them 
learn  the  principles  of  chymistry,  which  may  assist  in 
this  art.f 

Children  are  very  fond  of  attempting  experiments  in 
dying,  and  are  very  curious  about  vegetable  dies  ;  but 
they  can  seldom  proceed  for  want  of  the  means  of  boil- 
ing, evaporating,  distilling,  and  subliming.  Small  stills, 
and  small  tea-kettles  and  lamps,  would  be  extremely 
useful  to  them  :  these  might  be  used  in  the  room  with 
the  children's  parents,  which  would  prevent  all  danger  : 
they  should  continue  to  be  the  property  of  the  parents, 
and  should  be  produced  only  when  they  are  wanted.  No 
great  apparatus  is  necessary  for  showing  children  the  first 

*  We  do  not  mean  to  do  injustice  to  Mrs.  Raffeld's  professional 
skill. 

t  V.  Diderot's  ingenious  preface  to  "  Chymie  de  gout  et  de 
1'odorat." 


32  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

simple  operations  in  chymistry;  such  as  evaporation, 
crystallization,  calcination,  detonation,  effervescence, 
and  saturation.  Water  and  fire,  salt  and  sugar,  lime  and 
vinegar,  are  not  very  difficult  to  be  procured  ;  and  a  wine- 
glass is  to  be  found  in  every  house.  The  difference  be- 
tween an  acid  and  alkali  should  be  early  taught  to  chil- 
dren ;  many  grown  people  begin  to  learn  chymistry, 
without  distinctly  knowing  what  is  meant  by  those 
terms. 

In  the  selection  of  chymical  experiments  for  young 
people,  it  will  be  best  to  avoid  such  as  have  the  appear- 
ance of  jugglers'  tricks,  as  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  excite 
the  amazement  of  children  for  the  moment,  but  to  give 
them  a  permanent  taste  for  science.  In  a  well-known 
book,  called  "  Hooper's  Rational  Recreations,"  there  are 
many  ingenious  experiments ;  but  through  the  whole 
work  there  is  such  a  want  of  an  enlarged  mind,  and  such 
a  love  of  magic  and  deception  appears,  as  must  render 
it  not  only  useless,  but  unsafe,  for  young  people,  in  its 
present  state.  Perhaps  a  selection  might  be  made  from 
it  in  which  these  defects  might  be  avoided  :  such  titles 
as  "  The  real  apparition ;  the  confederate  counters ;  the 
five  beatitudes;  and  the  look  of  fate"  may  be  changed 
for  others  more  rational.  Receipts  for  "  Changing  winter 
into  spring"  for  making  "  Self-raising  pyramids,  enchanted 
mirrors,  and  intelligent  flies"  might  be  omitted,  or  ex- 
plained to  advantage.  Recreation  the  5th,  "  To  tell  by 
the  dial  of  a  watch  at  what  hour  any  person  intends  to 
rise ;"  Recreation  the  12th,  "  To  produce  the  appear- 
ance of  a  phantom  on  a  pedestal  placed  on  the  middle 
of  a  table  ;"  and  Recreation  the  30th,  "  To  write  several 
letters  which  contain  no  meaning,  upon  cards  ;  to  make 
them,  after  they  have  been  twice  shuffled,  give  an  answer 
to  a  question  that  shall  be  proposed  ;"  as,  for  example, 
"  What  is  love  V  scarcely  come  under  the  denomination 
of  Rational  Recreations,  nor  will  they  much  conduce  to 
the  end  proposed  in  the  introduction  to  Hooper's  work  ; 
that  is  to  say,  in  his  own  words,  *'  To  enlarge  and  for- 
tify the  mind  of  man,  that  he  may  advance  with  tranqui' 
steps  through  the  flowery  paths  of  investigation,  till  ar 
riving  at  some  noble  eminence,  he  beholds,  with  awfiL 
astonishment,  the  boundless  regions  of  science,  and  be- 
comes animated  to  attain  a  still  more  lofty  station,  while 
his  heart  is  incessantly  wrapped  with  joys  of  which  the 
grovelling  herd  have  no  conception." 


TOYS.  33 

Even  in  those  chymical  experiments  in  this  book, 
which  are  really  ingenious  and  entertaining,  we  should 
avoid  giving  the  old  absurd  titles,  which  can  only  con- 
fuse the  understanding  and  spoil  the  taste  of  children. 
The  tree  of  Diana,  and  "  Philosophic  wool,"  are  of  this 
species.  It  is  not  necessary  to  make  every  thing  mar- 
vellous and  magical  to  fix  the  attention  of  young  peo- 
ple :  if  they  are  properly  educated,  they  will  find  more 
amusement  in  discovering,  or  in  searching  for  the  cause 
of  the  effects  which  thty  see,  than  in  a  blind  admiration 
of  the  juggler's  tricks. 

In  the  papers  of  the  Manchester  Society,  in  Franklin's 
letters,  in  Priestley's  and  Percival's  works,  there  may 
be  found  a  variety  of  simple  experiments  which  require 
no  great  apparatus,  and  which  will  at  once  amuse  and 
instruct.  All  the  papers  of  the  Manchester  Society, 
upon  the  repulsion  and  attraction  of  oil  and  water,  are 
particularly  suited  to  children,  because  they  state  a  va- 
riety of  simple  facts ;  the  mind  is  led  to  reason  upon 
them,  and  induced  to  judge  of  the  different  conclusions 
which  are  drawn  from  them  by  different  people.  The 
name  of  Dr.  Percival  or  Dr.  Wall  will  have  no  weight 
with  children  ;  they  will  compare  only  the  reasons  and 
experiments.  Oil  and  water,  a  cork,  a  needle,  a  plate, 
and  a  glass  tumbler,  are  all  the  things  necessary  for  these 
experiments.  Mr.  Henry's  experiments  upon  the  influ- 
ence that  fixed  air  has  on  vegetation,  and  several  of 
Reaumur's  experiments,  mentioned  in  the  memoirs  of  the 
French  Academy  of  Sciences,  are  calculated  to  please 
young  people  much,  and  can  be  repeated  without  ex- 
pense or  difficulty. 

To  those  who  acquire  habits  of  observation,  every 
thing  that  is  to  be  seen  or  heard  becomes  a  source  of 
amusement.  Natural  history  interests  children  at  an 
early  age  ;  but  their  curiosity  and  activity  are  often  re- 
pressed and  restrained  by  the  ignorance  or  indolence 
of  their  tutors.  The  most  inquisitive  genius  grows  tired 
of  repeating,  "Pray  look  at  this — What  is  it]  What 
can  the  use  of  this  be  ?"  when  the  constant  answer  is, 
"  Oh !  it's  nothing  worth  looking  at,  throw  it  away,  it 
will  dirty  the  house."  Those  who  have  attended  to  the 
ways  of  children  and  parents  well  know  that  there  are 
many  little  inconveniences  attending  their  amusements, 
which  the  sublime  eye  of  the  theorist  in  education  over- 
looks, which,  nevertheless,  are  essential  to  practical 
B3 


34  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

success.  "•  It  will  dirty  the  house,"  puts  a  stop  to  many 
of  the  operations  of  the  young  philosopher ;  nor  is  it 
reasonable  that  his  experiments  should  interfere  with 
the  necessary  regularity  of  a  well-ordered  family.  But 
most  well-ordered  families  allow  their  horses  and  their 
dogs  to  have  houses  to  themselves  ;  cannot  one  room  be 
allotted  to  the  children  of  the  family  ?  If  they  are  to 
learn  chymistry,  mineralogy,  botany,  or  mechanics ;  if 
they  are  to  take  sufficient  bodily  exercise  without  tor- 
menting the  whole  family  with  noise,  a  room  should  be 
provided  for  them.  We  mention  exercise  and  noise  in 
particular,  because  we  think  they  will,  to  many,  appear 
of  the  most  importance. 

To  direct  children  in  their  choice  of  fossils,  and  to 
give  them  some  idea  of  the  general  arrangements  of 
mineralogy,  toyshops  should  be  provided  with  speci- 
mens of  ores,  &c.  properly  labelled  and  arranged  in 
drawers,  so  that  they  may  be  kept  in  order.  Children 
should  have  empty  shelves  in  their  cabinets,  to  be  filled 
with  their  own  collections  ;  they  will  then  know  how 
to  direct  their  researches,  and  how  to  dispose  of  their 
treasures.  If  they  have  proper  places  to  keep  things 
in,  they  will  acquire  a  taste  for  order  by  the  best  means, 
by  feeling  the  use  of  it :  to  either  sex,  this  taste  will  be 
highly  advantageous.  Children  who  are  active  and  in- 
dustrious, and  who  have  a  taste  for  natural  history, 
often  collect,  with  much  enthusiasm,  a  variety  of  peb- 
bles and  common  stones,  which  they  value  as  great  curi- 
osities, till  some  surly  mineralogist  happens  to  see 
them,  and  condemns  them  all  with  one  supercilious 
"  pshaw  !"  or  else  a  journey  is  to  be  taken,  and  there  is 
no  way  in  making  up  the  heterogeneous,  cumbersome 
collection,  which  must,  of  course,  be  abandoned.  Nay, 
if  no  journey  is  to  be  taken,  a  visiter,  perhaps,  comes 
unexpectedly ;  the  little  naturalist's  apartment  must  be 
vacated  on  a  few  minutes'  notice,  and  the  labour  of  years 
falls  a  sacrifice,  in  an  instant,  to  the  housemaid's  undis- 
tinguishing  broom. 

It  may  seem  trifling  to  insist  so  much  upon  such  slight 
things ;  but,  in  fact,  nothing  can  be  done  in  education 
without  attention  to  minute  circumstances.  Many  who 
have  genius  to  sketch  large  plans,  have  seldom  patience 
to  attend  to  the  detail  which  is  necessary  for  their  ac- 
complishment. This  is  a  useful,  and,  therefore,  no  hu- 
miliating drudgery. 


TOYS.  35 

With  the  little  cabinets  which  we  have  mentioned, 
should  be  sold  cheap  microscopes,  which  will  unfold  a 
world  of  new  delights  to  children ;  and  it  is  very  prob- 
able that  children  will  not  only  be  entertained  with  look- 
ing  at  objects  through  a  microscope,  but  they  will  con- 
sider the  nature  of  the  magnifying  glass.  They  should 
not  be  rebuffed  with  the  answer,  "  Oh,  it's  only  a  com- 
mon magnifying  glass,"  but  they  should  be  encouraged 
in  their  laudable  curiosity  ;  they  may  easily  be  led  to  try 
slight  experiments  in  optics,  which  will,  at  least,  give 
the  habits  of  observation  and  attention.  In  Dr.  Priest- 
ley's History  of  Vision,  many  experiments  may  be 
found  which  are  not  above  the  comprehension  of  chil- 
dren of  ten  or  eleven  years  old ;  we  do  not  imagine  that 
any  science  can  be  taught  by  desultory  experiments,  but 
we  think  that  a  taste  for  science  may  early  be  given  by 
making  it  entertaining,  and  by  exciting  young  people  to 
exercise  their  reasoning  and  inventive  faculties  upon 
every  object  which  surrounds  them.  We  may  point  out. 
that  great  discoveries  have  often  been  made  by  attention 
to  slight  circumstances.  The  blowing  of  soap-bubbles, 
as  it  was  first  performed  as  a  scientific  experiment  by 
the  celebrated  Dr.  Hook,  before  the  Royal  Society, 
makes  a  conspicuous  figure  in  Dr.  Priestley's  chapter  on 
the  reflection  of  light ;  this  may  be  read  to  children,  and 
they  will  be  pleased  when  they  observe  that  what  at 
first  appeared  only  a  trifling  amusement,  has  occupied 
the  understanding,  and  excited  the  admiration,  of  some 
great  philosophers. 

Every  child  observes  the  colours  which  are  to  be  seen 
in  panes  of  glass  windows :  in  Priestley's  History  of 
Vision,  there  are  some  experiments  of  Hook's  and  Lord 
Brereton's  upon  these  colours,  which  may  be  selected. 
Buffon's  observations  upon  blue  and  green  shadows  are 
to  be  found  in  the  same  work,  and  they  are  very  enter- 
taining. In  Dr.  Franklin's  letters  there  are  numerous 
experiments,  which  are  particularly  suited  to  young 
people  ;  especially,  as  in  every  instance  he  speaks  with 
that  candour  and  openness  to  conviction,  and  with  that 
patient  desire  to  discover  truth,  which  we  should  wish 
our  pupils  to  admire  and  imitate. 

The  history  of  the  experiments  which  have  been  tried 
in  the  progress  of  any  science,  and  of  the  manner  in 
which  observations  of  minute  facts  have  led  to  great 
discoveries,  will  be  useful  to  the  understanding,  and  will 


36  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

gradually  make  the  mind  expert  in  that  mental  algebra, 
on  which  both  reasoning  and  invention  (which  is,  per- 
haps, only  a  more  rapid  species  of  reasoning)  depend. 
In  drawing  out  a  list  of  experiments  for  children,  it  will, 
therefore,  be  advantageous  to  place  them  in  that  order 
which  will  best  exhibit  their  relative  connexion;  and, 
instead  of  showing  young  people  the  steps  of  a  dis- 
covery, we  should  frequently  pause  to  try  if  they  can  in- 
vent. In  this,  our  pupils  will  succeed  often  beyond  our 
expectations  ;  and,  whether  it  be  in  mechanics,  chymis- 
try,  geometry,  or  in  the  arts,  the  same  course  of  educa- 
tion will  be  found  to  have  the  same  advantages.  When 
the  powers  of  reason  have  been  cultivated,  and  the  in- 
ventive faculty  exercised  ;  when  general  habits  of  vol- 
untary exertion  and  patient  perseverance  have  been  ac- 
quired, it  will  be  easy,  either  for  the  pupil  himself,  or 
for  his  friends,  to  direct  his  abilities  to  whatever  is  ne- 
cessary for  his  happiness.  We  do  not  use  the  phrase, 
success  in  the  world,  because,  if  it  conveys  any  distinct 
ideas,  it  implies  some  which  are,  perhaps,  inconsistent 
with  real  happiness. 

While  our  pupils  occupy  and  amuse  themselves  with 
observation,  experiment,  and  invention,  we  must  take 
care  that  they  have  a  sufficient  variety  of  manual  and 
bodily  exercises.  A  turning-lathe  and  a  work-bench 
will  afford  them  constant  active  employment ;  and  when 
young  people  can  invent,  they  feel  great  pleasure  in  the 
execution  of  their  own  plans.  We  do  not  speak  from 
vague  theory ;  we  have  seen  the  daily  pleasures  of  the 
work-bench,  and  the  persevering  eagerness  with  which 
young  people  work  in  wood,  and  brass,  and  iron,  when 
tools  are  put  into  their  hands  at  a  proper  age,  and  when 
their  understanding  has  been  previously  taught  the  simple 
principles  of  mechanics.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
any  exhortations  we  could  use  could  prevail  upon  a 
father,  who  happens  to  have  no  taste  for  mechanics  or 
for  chymistry,  to  spend  any  of  his  time  in  his  children's 
laboratory,  or  at  their  work-bench ;  but  in  his  choice  of 
a  tutor,  he  may  perhaps  supply  his  own  defects ;  and 
he  will  consider,  that  even  by  interesting  himself  in  the 
daily  occupations  of  his  children,  he  will  do  more  in  the 
advancement  of  their  education  than  can  be  done  by 
paying  money  to  a  hundred  masters. 

We  do  not  mean  to  confine  young  people  to  the 
laboratory  or  the  work-bench  for  exercise ;  the  more 


TOYS.  3? 

varied  exercise  is,  the  better.  Upon  this  subject  we 
shall  speak  more  fully  hereafter :  we  have  in  general 
recommended  all  trials  of  address  and  dexterity,  except 
games  of  chance,  which  we  think  should  be  avoided,  as 
they  tend  to  give  a  taste  for  gambling  ;  a  passion,  which 
has" been  the  ruin  of  so  many  young  men  of  promising 
talents,  of  so  many  once  happy  families,  that  every 
parent  will  think  it  well  worth  his  while  to  attend  to 
the  smallest  circumstances  in  education,  which  can  pre- 
vent its  seizing  hold  of  the  minds  of  his  children. 

In  children,  as  in  men,  a  taste  for  gaming  arises  from 
the  want  of  better  occupation,  or  of  proper  emotion  to 
relieve  them  from  the  pains  and  penalties  of  idleness  ; 
both  the  vain  and  indolent  are  prone  to  this  taste,  from 
different  causes.  The  idea  of  personal  merit  is  insensi- 
bly connected  with  what  is  called  good  luck,  and  before 
avarice  absorbs  every  other  feeling,  vanity  forms  no 
inconsiderable  part  of  the  charm  which  fixes  such  num- 
bers to  the  gaming-table.  Indolent  persons  are  fond  of 
games  of  chance,  because  they  feel  themselves  roused 
agreeably  from  their  habitual  state  of  apathy,  or  be- 
cause they  perceive,  that,  at  these  contests,  without 
any  menial  exertion,  they  are  equal,  perhaps  superior, 
to  their  competitors. 

Happy  they  who  have  early  been  inspired  with  a 
taste  for  science  and  literature !  They  will  have  a 
constant  succession  of  agreeable  ideas ;  they  will  find 
endless  variety  in  the  commonest  objects  which  sur- 
round them ;  and  feeling  that  every  day  of  their  lives 
they  have  sufficient  amusement,  they  will  require  no 
extraordinary  excitations,  no  holyday  pleasures.  They 
who  have  learned,  from  their  own  experience,  a  just  con- 
fidence in  their  own  powers  ;  they  who  have  tasted  the 
delights  of  well-earned  praise,  will  not  lightly  trust  to 
chance  for  the  increase  of  self-approbation ;  nor  will 
those  pursue,  with  too  much  eagerness,  the  precarious 
triumphs  of  fortune,  who  know,  that  in  their  usual  pur- 
suits, it  is  in  their  own  power  to  command  success 
proportioned  to  their  exertions.  Perhaps  it  may  be 
thought,  that  we  should  have  deferred  our  eulogium 
upon  literature  till  we  came  to  speak  of  Tasks  ;  but  if 
there  usually  appears  but  little  connexion  in  a  child's 
mind  between  books  and  toys,  this  must  be  attributed 
to  his  having  had  bad  books  and  bad  toys.  In  the 
hands  of  a  judicious  instructor,  no  means  are  too  small 
4 


38  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

to  be  useful;  every  thing  is  made  conducive  to  his 
purposes ;  and  instead  of  useless  baubles,  his  pupils  will 
be  provided  with  playthings  which  may  instruct,  and 
with  occupations  which  may  at  once  amuse  and  improve 
the  understanding. 

It  would  be  superfluous  to  give  a  greater  variety  of 
instances  of  the  sorts  of  amusements  which  are  ad- 
vantageous ;  we  fear  that  we  have  already  given  too 
many,  and  that  we  have  hazarded  some  observations, 
which  will  be  thought  too  pompous  for  a  chapter  upon 
Toys.  We  intended  to  have  added  to  this  chapter  an 
inventory  of  the  present  most  fashionable  articles  in 
our  toyshops,  and  a  list  of  the  new  assortment,  to  speak 
in  the  true  style  of  an  advertisement ;  but  we  are 
obliged  to  defer  this  for  the  present ;  upon  a  future  oc- 
casion we  shall  submit  it  to  the  judgment  of  the  pub- 
lic. A  revolution,  even  in  toyshops,  should  not  be  at- 
tempted, unless  there  appear  a  moral  certainty  that  we 
both  may,  and  can,  change  for  the  better.  The  danger 
of  doing  too  much  in  education  is  greater  even  than 
the  danger  of  doing  too  little.  As  the  merchants  in 
France  answered  to  Colbert,  when  he  desired  to  know 
"  how  he  could  best  assist  them,"  children  might,  per- 
haps, reply  to  those  who  are  most  officious  to  amuse 
them :  "  Leave  us  to  ourselves." 


CHAPTER  II. 


"  WHY  don't  you  get  your  task,  instead  of  playing 
with  your  playthings  from  morning  till  night?  You  are 
grown  too  old  now  to  do  nothing  but  play.  It  is  high 
time  you  should  learn  to  read  and  write,  for  you  cannot 
be  a  child  all  your  life,  child ;  so  go  and  fetch  your  book, 
and  learn  your  task" 

This  angry  apostrophe  is  probably  addressed  to  a 
child,  at  the  moment  when  he  is  intent  upon  some 
agreeable  occupation,  which  is  now  to  be  stigmatized 
with  the  name  of  Play.  Why  that  word  should  all  at 
once  change  its  meaning;  why  that  should  now  be  a 


TASKS.  39 

crime,  which  was  formerly  a  virtue  ;  why  he,  who  had 
so  often  been  desired  to  go  and  play,  should  now  be 
reviled  for  his  obedience,  the  young  casuist  is  unable 
to  discover.  He  hears  that  he  is  no  longer  a  child  :  this 
he  is  willing  to  believe  ;  but  the  consequence  is  alarm- 
ing. Of  the  new  duties  incumbent  upon  his  situation, 
he  has  yet  but  a  confused  idea.  In  his  manly  charac- 
ter, he  is  not  yet  thoroughly  perfect :  his  pride  would 
make  him  despise  every  thing  that  is  childish,  but  no 
change  has  yet  been  wrought  in  the  inward  man,  and 
his  old  tastes  and  new  ambition  are  in  direct  opposition. 
Whether  to  learn  to  read  be  a  dreadful  thing  or  not,  is 
a  question  he  cannot  immediately  solve ;  but  if  his 
reasoning  faculty  be  suspended,  there  is  yet  a  power 
secretly  working  within  him,  by  which  he  will  involunta- 
rily be  governed.  This  power  is  the  power  of  associa- 
tion :  of  its  laws,  he  is,  probably,  not  more  ignorant 
than  his  tutor  ;  nor  is  he  aware  that  whatever  word  or 
idea  comes  into  his  mind  with  any  species  of  pain,  will 
return,  whenever  it  is  recalled  to  his  memory,  with  the 
same  feelings.  The  word  Task,  the  first  time  he  hears 
it,  is  an  unmeaning  word,  but  it  ceases  to  be  indifferent 
to  him  the  moment  he  hears  it  pronounced  in  a  terrible 
voice.  "  Learn  your  task,"  and  "  fetch  your  book," 
recur  to  his  recollection  with  indistinct  feelings  of  pain ; 
and  hence,  without  further  consideration,  he  will  be  dis- 
posed to  dislike  both  books  and  tasks ;  but  his  feelings 
are  the  last  things  to  be  considered  upon  this  occasion ; 
the  immediate  business  is  to  teach  him  to  read.  A  new 
era  in  his  life  now  commences.  The  age  of  learning 
begins,  and  begins  in  sorrow.  The  consequences  of  a 
bad  beginning  are  proverbially  ominous  ;  but  no  omens 
can  avert  his  fate,  no  omens  can  deter  his  tutor  from 
the  undertaking ;  the  appointed  moment  is  come ;  the 
boy  is  four  years  old,  and  he  must  learn  to  read.  Some 
people,  struck  with  a  panic  fear,  lest  their  children 
should  never  learn  to  read  and  write,  think  that  they 
cannot  be  in  too  great  a  hurry  to  teach  them.  Spelling- 
books,  grammars,  dictionaries,  rods  and  masters,  are 
collected ;  nothing  is  to  be  heard  of  in  the  house  but 
tasks  ;  nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  tears. 

"  No  tears  !  no  tasks  !  no  masters  !  nothing  upon  com- 
pulsion !"  say  the  opposite  party  in  education.  "  Chil- 
dren must  be  left  entirely  at  liberty ;  they  will  learn 
every  thing  better  than  you  can  teach  them  ;  their 


40  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

memory  must  not  be  overloaded  with  trash ;  their  reason 
must  be  left  to  grow." 

Their  reason  will  never  grow  unless  it  be  exercised, 
is  the  reply ;  their  memory  must  be  stored  while  they 
are  young,  because,  in  youth,  the  memory  is  most  tena- 
cious. If  you  leave  them  at  liberty  for  ever,  they  will 
never  learn  to  spell ;  they  will  never  learn  Latin  ;  they 
will  never  learn  Latin  grammar ;  yet,  they  must  learn 
Latin  grammar,  and  a  number  of  other  disagreeable 
things ;  therefore,  we  must  give  them  tasks  and  task- 
masters. 

In  all  these  assertions,  perhaps,  we  shall  find  a  mix- 
ture of  truth  and  error ;  therefore,  we  had  better  be  gov- 
erned by  neither  party,  but  listen  to  both,  and  examine 
arguments  unawed  by  authority.  And  first,  as  to  the 
panic  fear,  which,  though  no  argument,  is  a  most  pow- 
erful motive.  We  see  but  few  examples  of  children  so 
extremely  stupid  as  not  to  have  been  able  to  learn  to 
read  and  write  between  the  years  of  three  and  thirteen  ; 
but  we  see  many  whose  temper  and  whose  understand- 
ing have  been  materially  injured  by  premature  or  injudi- 
cious instruction  ;  we  see  many  who  are  disgusted,  per- 
haps irrecoverably,  with  literature,  while  they  are  flu- 
ently reading  books  which  they  cannot  comprehend,  or 
learning  words  by  rote  to  which  they  affix  no  ideas.  It 
is  scarcely  worth  while  to  speak  of  the  vain  ambition 
of  those  who  long  only  to  have  it  said,  that  their  chil- 
dren read  sooner  than  those  of  their  neighbours  do  ;  for, 
supposing  their  utmost  wish  to  be  gratified,  that  their 
son  could  read  before  the  age  when  children  commonly 
articulate,  still  the  triumph  must  be  of  short  duration, 
the  fame  confined  to  a  small  circle  of  "  foes  and  friends," 
and,  probably,  in  a  few  years,  the  memory  of  the  phe- 
nomenon would  remain  only  with  his  doting  grand- 
mother. Surely,  it  is  the  use  which  children  make  of 
their  acquirements  which  is  of  consequence,  not  the 
possessing  them  a  few  years  sooner  or  later.  A  man 
who,  during  his  whole  life,  could  never  write  any  thing 
that  was  worth  reading,  would  find  it  but  poor  consola- 
tu)n  for  himself,  his  friends,  or  the  public,  to  reflect, 
that  he  had  been  in  joining-hand  before  he  was  five 
years  old. 

As  it  is  usually  managed,  it  is  a  dreadful  task  indeed 
to  learn,  and,  if  possible,  a  more  dreadful  task  to  teach 
to  read.  With  the  help  of  counters,  and  coaxing,  and 


TASKS.  41 

gingerbread,  or  by  dint  of  reiterated  pain  and  terror,  the 
names  of  the  four-and-twenty  letters  of  the  alphabet 
are,  perhaps,  in  the  course  of  some  weeks,  firmly  fixed 
in  the  pupil's  memory.  So  much  the  worse  ;  all  these 
names  will  disturb  him,  if  he  have  common  sense,  and 
at  every  step  must  stop  his  progress.  To  begin  with 
the  vowels  :  each  of  these  have  several  different  sounds, 
and,  consequently,  ought  to  have  several  names,  or  dif- 
ferent signs,  to  distinguish  them  in  different  circum- 
stances. In  the  first  lesson  of  the  spelling-book,  the 
child  begins  with  a-b  makes  ab ;  b-a  makes  ba.  The 
inference,  if  any  general  inference  can  be  drawn  from 
this  lesson,  is,  that  when  a  comes  before  £,  it  has  one 
sound,  and  after  b,  it  has  another  sound ;  but  this  is  con- 
tradicted by-and-by,  and  it  appears  that  a  after  b  has 
various  sounds,  as  in  ball,  in  bat,  in  bare.  The  letter » in 
fire,  is  i,  as  we  call  it  in  the  alphabet,  but  in  fir  it  is 
changed ;  in  pin  it  is  changed  again ;  so  that  the  child, 
being  ordered  to  affix  to  the  same  sign  a  variety  of 
sounds  and  names,  and  not  knowing  in  what  circum- 
stances to  obey  and  in  what  to  disregard  the  contra- 
dictory injunctions  imposed  upon  him,  he  pronounces 
sounds  at  hazard,  and  adheres  positively  to  the  last  ruled 
case,  or  maintains  an  apparently  sullen,  or  truly  philo- 
sophic and  skeptical  silence.  Must  e  in  pen,  and  e  in 
where,  and  e  in  verse,  and  e  in  fear,  all  be  called  e  alike  1 
The  child  is  patted  on  the  head  for  reading  u  as  it  ought 
to  be  pronounced  in  future  ;  but  if,  remembering  this  en- 
couragement, the  pupil  should  venture  to  pronounce  u 
in  gun  and  bun,  in  the  same  manner,  he  will,  inevitably, 
be  disgraced.  Pain  and  shame  impress  precepts  upon 
the  mind :  the  child,  therefore,  is  intent  upon  remember- 
ing the  new  sound  of  u  in  bun;  but  when  he  comes  to 
busy,  and  burial,  and  prudence,  his  last  precedent  will 
lead  him  fatally  astray,  and  he  will  again  be  called  a 
dunce.  O,  in  the  exclamation  Oh  !  is  happily  called  by 
its  alphabetical  name  ;  but  in  to,  we  can  hardly  know  it 
again,  and  in  morning  and  wonder,  it  has  a  third  and  a 
fourth  additional  sound.  The  amphibious  letter  y,  which 
is  either  a  vowel  or  a  consonant,  has  one  sound  in  one 
character,  and  two  sounds  in  the  other  ;  as  a  consonant, 
it  is  pronounced  as  in  yesterday  ;  in  try,  it  is  sounded  as 
i;  in  any,  and  in  the  termination  of  many  other  words, 
it  is  sounded  like  e.  Must  a  child  know  all  this  by  intui- 
tion, or  must  it  be  whipped  into  him  ?  But  he  must  know 


PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

a  great  deal  more  before  he  can  read  the  most  common 
words.  What  length  of  time  should  we  allow  him  for 
learning  when  c  is  to  be  sounded  like  k,  and  when  like 

?  and  how  much  longer  time  shall  we  add  for  learning 
when  s  shall  be  pronounced  sh,  as  in  sure,  or  z,  as  in 
has;  the  sound  of  which  last  letter,  z,  he  cannot,  by  any 
conjuration,  obtain  from  the  name  zed,  the  only  name 
by  which  he  has  been  taught  to  call  it  1  How  much  time 
shall  we  allow  a  patient  tutor  for  teaching  a  docile  pupil, 
when  g  is  to  be  sounded  soft  and  when  hard  ?  There 
are  many  carefully  worded  rules  in  the  spelling-books, 
specifying  before  what  letters  and  in  what  situations 
g  shall  vary  in  sound ;  but,  unfortunately,  these  rules 
are  difficult  to  be  learned  by  heart,  and  still  more  diffi- 
cult to  understand.  These  laws,  however  positive,  are 
not  found  to  be  of  universal  application,  or  at  least,  a 
child  has  not  always  wit  or  time  to  apply  them  upon 
the  spur  of  the  occasion.  In  coming  to  the  words  inge- 
nious gentleman,  get  a  good  grammar,  he  may  be  puzzled 
by  the  nice  distinctions  he  is  to  make  in  pronunciation 
in  cases  apparently  similar ;  but  he  has  not  yet  become 
acquainted  with  all  the  powers  of  this  privileged  letter  : 
in  company  with  A,  it  assumes  the  character  of  /,  as  in 
tough;  another  time  he  meets  it,  perhaps,  in  the  same 
company,  in  the  same  place,  and,  as  nearly  as  possible, 
in  the  same  circumstances,  as  in  the  word  though  ;  but 
now  g  is  to  become  a  silent  letter,  and  is  to  pass  incog- 
nito, and  the  child  will  commit  an  unpardonable  error 
if  he  claimed  the  incognito  as  his  late  acquaintance  f. 
Still,  all  these  are  slight  difficulties  ;  a  moment's  reflec- 
tion must  convince  us,  that  by  teaching  the  common 
names  of  every  consonant  in  the  alphabet,  we  prepare  a 
child  for  misery  when  he  begins  to  spell  or  read.  A 
consonant,  as  saith  the  spelling-book,  is  a  letter  which 
cannot  be  pronounced  without  a  vowel  before  or  after 
it :  for  this  reason  B  is  called  be,  and  L,  el ;  but  why  the 
vowel  should  come  first  in  one  case,  or  last  in  the  sec- 
ond, we  are  not  informed ;  nor  are  we  told  why  the 
names  of  some  letters  have  no  resemblance  whatever 
to  their  sounds,  either  with  a  vowel  before  or  after 
them.  Suppose,  that  after  having  learned  the  alphabet, 
a  child  was  to  read  the  words 

Here  is  some  apple-pye. 

He  would  pronounce  the  letters  thus : 

Acheare  ies  esoemc  apepcele  pewie. 


TASKS.  43 

With  this  pronunciation  the  child  would  never  decipher 
these  simple  words.  It  will  be  answered,  perhaps,  that 
no  child  is  expected  to  read  as  soon  as  he  has  learned  his 
alphabet :  a  long  initiation  of  monosyllabic,  dissyllabic, 
trissyilabic,  and  polysyllabic  words  is  previously  to  be 
submitted  to ;  nor,  after  this  inauguration,  are  the  nov- 
ices capable  of  performing  with  propriety  the  ceremony 
of  reading  whole  words  and  sentences.  By  a  different 
method  of  teaching,  all  this  waste  of  labour  and  of  time, 
all  this  confusion  of  rules  and  exceptions,  and  all  the 
consequent  confusion  in  the  understanding  of  the  pupil, 
may  be  avoided. 

In  teaching  a  child  to  read,  every  letter  should  have  a 
precise  single  sound  annexed  to  its  figure  ;  this  should 
never  vary.  Where  two  consonants  are  joined  together, 
so  as  to  have  but  one  sound,  as  ph,  sh,  &c.,  the  two  let- 
ters should  be  coupled  together  by  a  distinct,  invariable 
mark.  Letters  that  are  silent  should  be  marked  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  point  out  to  the  child  that  they  are  not 
to  be  sounded.  Upon  these  simple  rules  our  method  of 
teaching  to  read  has  been  founded.  The  signs  or  marks, 
by  which  these  distinctions  are  to  be  effected,  are  arbi- 
trary, and  may  be  varied  as  the  teacher  chooses ;  the 
addition  of  a  single  point  above  or  below  the  com- 
mon letters  is  employed  to  distinguish  the  different 
sounds  that  are  given  to  the  same  letter,  and  a  mark 
underneath  such  letters  as  are  to  be  omitted,  is  the  only 
apparatus  necessary.  These  marks  were  employed  by 
the  author  in  1776,  before  he  had  seen  Sheridan's  or  any 
similar  dictionary  ;  he  has  found  that  they  do  not  con- 
fuse children  as  much  as  figures,  because  when  dots  are 
used  to  distinguish  sounds,  there  is  only  a  change  of 
place,  and  no  change  of  form  :  but  any  person  that 
chooses  it  may  substitute  figures  instead  of  dots.  It 
should,  however,  be  remembered,  that  children  must 
learn  to  distinguish  the  figures  before  they  can  be  use- 
ful in  discriminating  the  words. 

All  these  sounds,  and  each  of  the  characters  which 
denote  them,  should  be  distinctly  known  by  a  child  be- 
fore we  begin  to  teach  him  to  read.  And  here  at  the 
first  step  we  must  entreat  the  teacher  to  have  patience  ; 
to  fir  firmly  in  her  mind,  we  say  her  mind,  because  we 
address  ourselves  to  mothers ;  that  it  is  immaterial 
whether  a  child  learns  this  alphabet  in  six  weeks  or  in  six 
months  ;  at  all  events,  let  it  not  be  inculcated  withj*e- 


44  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

straint,  or  made  tiresome,  lest  it  should  retard  the  whole 
future  progress  of  the  pupil.  We  do  not  mean  to  rec- 
ommend the  custom  of  teaching  in  play,  but  surely 
a  cheerful  countenance  is  not  incompatible  with  appli- 
cation. 

The  three  sounds  of  the  letter  (a)  should  first  be 
taught ;  they  may  be  learned  by  the  dullest  child  in  a 
week,  if  the  letters  are  shown  to  him  for  a  minute  or 
two,  twice  a  day.  Proper  moments  should  be  chosen 
when  the  child  is  not  intent  upon  any  thing  else  ;  when 
other  children  have  appeared  to  be  amused  with  read- 
ing ;  when  the  pupil  himself  appears  anxious  to  be  in- 
structed. As  soon  as  he  is  acquainted  with  the  sounds 
of  (a)  and  with  their  distinguishing  marks,  each  of  these 
sounds  should  be  formed  into  syllables,  with  each  of  the 
consonants  ;  but  we  should  never  name  the  consonants 
by  their  usual  names ;  if  it  be  required  to  point  them 
out  by  sounds,  let  them  resemble  the  real  sounds  or 
powers  of  the  consonants  ;  but  in  fact,  it  will  never  be 
necessary  to  name  the  consonants  separately,  till  their 
powers,  in  combination  with  the  different  vowels,  be 
distinctly  acquired.  It  will  then  be  time  enough  to  teach 
the  common  names  of  the  letters.  To  a  person  un- 
acquainted with  the  principles  upon  which  this  mode  of 
teaching  is  founded,  it  must  appear  strange,  that  a  child 
should  be  able  to  read  before  he  knows  the  names  of 
his  letters  ;  but  it  has  been  ascertained,  that  the  names 
of  the  letters  are  an  encumbrance  in  teaching  a  child  to 
read. 

In  the  quotation  from  Mrs.  Barbauld,  at  the  bottom 
of  the  alphabetical  tables,  there  is  a  stroke  between  the 
letters  b  and  r  in  February,  and  between  t  and  h  in  there, 
to  show  that  these  letters  are  to  be  sounded  together, 
so  as  to  make  one  sound.  The  same  is  to  be  observed 
as  to  (ng)  in  the  word  long,  and  also  as  to  the  syllable 
ing,  which,  in  the  table  No.  4,  column  4,  is  directed  to 
be  taught  as  one  sound.  The  mark  ( .  )  of  obliteration, 
is  put  under  (y)  in  the  word  days,  under  e  final  in  there, 
and  also  under  one  of  the  Ts  and  the  (ty)  in  yelloiv,  to 
show  that  these  letters  are  not  to  be  pronounced.  The 
exceptions  to  this  scheme  of  articulation  are  very  few ; 
such  as  occur  are  marked,  with  the  number  employed 
in  Walker's  dictionary,  to  denote  the  exception ;  to 
which  excellent  work  the  teacher  will,  of  course, 
refer. 


TASKS.  45 

Parents,  at  the  first  sight  of  this  new  alphabet,  will 
perhaps  tremble  lest  they  should  be  obliged  to  learn  the 
whole  of  it  before  they  begin  to  teach  their  children  ; 
but  they  may  calm  their  apprehensions,  for  they  need 
only  point  out  the  letters  in  succession  to  the  child,  and 
sound  them  as  they  are  sounded  in  the  words  annexed 
to  the  letters  in  the  table,  and  the  child  will  soon,  by 
repetition,  render  the  marks  of  the  respective  letters 
familiar  to  the  teacher.  We  have  never  found  anybody 
complain  of  difficulty  who  has  gone  on  from  letter  to 
letter  along  with  the  child  who  was  taught. 

As  soon  as  our  pupil  knows  the  different  sounds  of  (a) 
combined  in  succession  with  all  the  consonants,  we  may 
teach  him  the  rest  of  the  vowels  joined  with  all  the 
consonants,  which  will  be  a  short  and  easy  work.  Our 
readers  need  not  be  alarmed  at  the  apparent  slowness 
of  this  method :  six  months,  at  the  rate  of  four  or  five 
minutes  each  day,  will  render  all  these  combinations 
perfectly  familiar.  One  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  lessons  for 
young  children,  carefully  marked  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  alphabet,  should,  when  they  are  well  acquainted 
with  the  sounds  of  each  of  the  vowels  with  each  of  the 
consonants,  be  put  into  our  pupil's  hands.* 

The  sound  of  three  or  four  letters  together  will  im- 
mediately become  familiar  to  him  ;  and  when  any  of  the 
less  common  sounds  of  the  vowels,  such  as  are  con- 
tained in  the  second  table,  and  the  terminating  sounds, 
tion,  ly,  &c.  occur,  they  should  be  read  to  the  child,  and 
should  be  added  to  what  he  has  got  by  rote  from  time 
to  time.  When  all  these  marks  and  their  correspond- 
ing sounds  are  learned,  the  primer  should  be  abandoned  ; 
and  from  that  time  the  child  will  be  able  to  read  slowly 
the  most  difficult  words  in  the  language.  We  must  ob- 
serve, that  the  mark  of  obliteration  is  of  the  greatest 
service ;  it  is  a  clew  to  the  whole  labyrinth  of  intricate 
and  uncouth  orthography.  The  word  though,  by  the 
obliteration  of  three  letters,  may  be  as  easily  read  as 
the  or  that. 

It  should  be  observed  that  all  people,  before  they  can 
read  fluently,  have  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  general 
appearance  of  most  of  the  words  in  the  language,  in- 
dependently of  the  syllables  of  which  they  are  com- 

*  Some  of  these  lessons,  and  others  by  the  authors,  will  shortly  be 
printed,  and  marked  according  to  this  method, 


46  PRACTICAL    KDUC.YtloV 

posed.  Seven  children  in  the  author's  family  were 
taught  to  read  in  this  manner,  and  three  in  the  common 
method  ;  the  difference  of  time,  labour,  and  sorrow,  be- 
tween the  two  modes  of  learning,  appeared  so  clearly, 
that  we  can  speak  with  confidence  upon  the  subject. 
We  think  that  nine  tenths  of  the  labour  and  disgust 
of  learning  to  read,  may  be  saved  by  this  method; 
and  that,  instead  of  frowns  and  tears,  the  usual  har- 
bingers of  learning,  cheerfulness  and  smiles  may  initiate 
willing  pupils  in  the  most  difficult  of  all  human  attain- 
ments. 

A.  and  H.,  at  four  and  five  years  old,  after  they  had 
learned  the  alphabet,  without  having  ever  combined  the 
letters  into  syllables,  were  set  to  read  one  of  Mrs.'Bar- 
bauld's  little  books.  After  being  employed  two  or  three 
minutes  every  day,  for  a  fortnight,  in  making  out  the 
words  of  this  book,  a  paper,  with  a  few  raisins  well  con- 
cealed in  its  folds,  was  given  to  each  of  them,  with 
these  words  printed  on  the  outside  of  it,  marked  ac- 
cording to  our  alphabet : 

"  Open  this,  and  eat  what  you  find  in  it." 

In  twenty  minutes  they  read  it  distinctly,  without  any 
assistance. 

The  step  from  reading  with  these  marks  to  reading 
without  them,  will  be  found  very  easy.  Nothing  more 
is  necessary  than  to  give  children  the  same  books, 
without  marks,  which  they  can  read  fluently  with  them. 

Spelling  comes  next  to  reading.  New  trials  for  the 
temper;  new  perils  for  the  understanding;  positive 
rules  and  arbitrary  exceptions ;  endless  examples  and 
contradictions  ;  till  at  length,  out  of  all  patience  with 
the  stupid  docility  of  his  pupil,  the  tutor  perceives  the 
absolute  necessity  of  making  him  get  by  heart,  with  all 
convenient  speed,  every  word  in  the  language.  The 
formidable  columns  in  dread  succession  arise,  a  host  of 
foes  ;  two  columns  a  day,  at  least,  may  be  conquered. 
Months  and  years  are  devoted  to  the  undertaking  ;  but 
after  going  through  a  whole  spelling-book,  perhaps  a 
whole  dictionary,  till  we  come  triumphantly  to  spell 
Zeugma,  we  have  forgotten  to  spell  Abbot,  and  we  must 
begin  again  with  Abasement.  Merely  the  learning  to 
spell  so  many  unconnected  words,  without  any  assist- 
ance from  reason  or  analogy,  is  nothing,  compared 
with  the  "difficulty  of  learning  the  explanation  of  them 
by  rote,  and  the  still  greater  difficulty  of  understanding 


TASKS.  47 

the  meaning  of  the  explanation.  When  a  child  has 
got  by  rote, 

"  Midnight,  the  depth  of  night ;" 

"  Metaphysics,  the  science  which  treats  of  immaterial 
beings,  and  of  forms  in  general  abstracted  from 
matter ;" 

has  he  acquired  any  distinct  ideas,  either  of  midnight 
or  of  metaphysics  *  If  a  boy  had  eaten  rice  pudding, 
till  he  fancied  himself  tolerably  well  acquainted  with  rice, 
would  he  find  his  knowledge  much  improved,  by  learn- 
ing from  his  spelling-book,  the  words — 

"  Rice,  a  foreign,  esculent  grain  V 
Yet  we  are  surprised  to  discover,  that  men  have  so  few 
accurate  ideas,  and  that  so  many  learned  disputes  ori- 
ginate in  a  confused  or  improper  use  of  words. 

"  All  this  is  very  true,"  says  a  candid  schoolmaster  ; 
"  we  see  the  evil,  but  we  cannot  new-model  the  lan- 
guage, or  write  a  perfect  philosophical  dictionary  ;  and, 
in  the  meantime,  we  are  bound  to  teach  children  to 
spell,  which  we  do  with  the  less  reluctance,  because, 
though  we  allow  that  it  is  an  arduous  task,  we  have 
found  from  experience  that  it  can  be  accomplished, 
and  that  the  understandings  of  many  of  our  pupils  sur- 
vive all  the  perils  to  which  you  think  them  exposed 
during  the  operation. 

The  understandings  may,  and  do  survive  the  opera- 
tion ;  but  why  should  they  be  put  in  unnecessary  dan- 
ger ?  and  why  should  we  early  disgust  children  with 
literature,  by  the  pain  arid  difficulty  of  their  first  lessons  ? 
We  are  convinced,  that  the  business  of  learning  to 
spell  is  made  much  more  laborious  to  children  than  it 
need  to  be:  it  may  be  useful  to  give  them  five  or  six 
words  every  day  to  learn  by  heart,  but  more  only  loads 
their  memory  ;  and  we  should  at  first  select  words  of 
which  they  know  the  meaning,  and  which  occur  most 
frequently  in  reading,  or  conversation.  The  alphabeti- 
cal list  of  words  in  a  spelling-book  contains  many  which 
are  not  in  common  use,  and  the  pupil  forgets  these  as 
fast  as  he  learns  them.  We  have  found  it  entertain- 
ing to  children,  to  ask  them  to  spell  any  short  sen- 
tence as  it  has  been  accidentally  spoken.  "  Put  this 
book  on  that  table."  Ask  a  child  how  he  would  spell 
these  words,  if  he  were  obliged  to  write  them  down ; 
and  you  introduce  into  his  mind  the  idea  that  he  must 
learn  to  spell  before  he  can  make  his  words  and 


48  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

thoughts  understood  in  writing.  It  is  a  good  way  to 
make  children  write  down  a  few  words  of  their  own 
selection  every  day,  and  correct  the  spelling ;  and  also 
after  they  have  been  reading,  while  the  words  are  yet 
fresh  in  their  memory,  we  may  ask  them  to  spell  some 
of  the  words  which  they  have  just  seen.  By  these 
means,  and  by  repeating,  at  different  times  in  the  day, 
those  words  which  are  most  frequently  wanted,  his  vo- 
cabulary will  be  pretty  well  stocked  without  its  having 
cost  him  any  tears.  We  should  observe  that  children 
learn  to  spell  more  by  the  eye  than  by  the  ear,  and  that  the 
more  they  read  and  write,  the  more  likely  they  will  be 
to  remember  the  combination  of  letters  in  words  which 
they  have  continually  before  their  eyes,  or  which  they 
feel  it  necessary  to  represent  to  others.  When  young 
people  begin  to  write,  they  first  feel  the  use  of  spelling  ; 
and  it  is  then  that  they  will  learn  it  with  most  ease  and 
precision.  Then  the  greatest  care  should  be  taken  to 
look  over  their  writing,  and  to  make  them  correct  every 
word  in  which  they  have  made  a  mistake ;  because  bad 
habits  of  spelling,  once  contracted,  can  scarcely  be 
cured  :  the  understanding  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
business  ;  and  when  the  memory  is  puzzled  between  the 
rules  of  spelling  right,  and  the  habits  of  spelling  wrong, 
it  becomes  a  misfortune  to  the  pupil  to  write  even  a 
common  letter.  The  shame  which  is  annexed  to  bad 
spelling  excites  young  people's  attention,  as  soon  as 
they  are  able  to  understand  that  it  is  considered  as  a 
mark  of  ignorance  and  ill-breeding.  We  have  often 
observed,  that  children  listen  with  anxiety  to  the  re- 
marks that  are  made  upon  this  subject  in  their  presence, 
especially  when  the  letters  or  notes  of  grown  up  people 
are  criticised. 

Some  time  ago,  a  lady,  who  was  reading  a  newspaper, 
met  with  the  story  of  an  ignorant  magistrate,  who  gave 
for  his  toast,  at  a  public  dinner,  the  two  K's,  for  the  King 
and  Constitution.  "  How  very  much  ashamed  the  man 
must  have  felt,  when  all  the  people  laughed  at  him  for 
his  mistake  !  they  must  have  all  seen  that  he  did  not 
know  how  to  spell ;  and  what  a  disgrace  for  a  magis- 
trate too  !"  said  a  boy  who  heard  the  anecdote.  It  made 
a  serious  impression  upon  him.  A  few  months  after- 
ward he  was  employed  by  his  father  in  an  occupation 
which  was  extremely  agreeable  to  him,  but  in  which  he 
continually  felt  the  necessity  of  spelling  correctly.  He 


TASKS.  49 

was  employed  to  send  messages  by  a  telegraph ;  these 
messages  he  was  obliged  to  write  down  hastily,  in  little 
journals  kept  for  the  purpose ;  and  as  these  were  seen 
by  several  people,  when  the  business  of  the  day  came  to 
be  reviewed,  the  boy  had  a  considerable  motive  for  or- 
thographical exactness.  He  became  extremely  desirous 
to  teach  himself,  and  consequently  his  success  was  from 
that  moment  certain.  As  to  the  rest,  we  refer  to  Lady 
Carlisle's  comprehensive  maxim,  "  Spell  well  if  you 
can." 

It  is  undoubtedly  of  consequence  to  teach  the  rudi- 
ments of  literary  education  early,  to  get  over  the  first 
difficulties  of  reading,  writing,  and  spelling ;  but  much 
of  the  anxiety,  and  bustle,  and  labour  of  teaching  these 
things,  may  be  advantageously  spared.  If  more  atten- 
tion were  turned  to  the  general  cultivation  of  the  under- 
standing, and  if  more  pains  were  taken  to  make  litera- 
ture agreeable  to  children,  there  would  be  found  less 
difficulty  to  excite  them  to  mental  exertion,  or  to  induce 
the  habits  of  persevering  application. 

When  we  speak  of  rendering  literature  agreeable  to 
children,  and  of  the  danger  of  associating  pains  with  the 
sight  of  a  book,  or  with  the  sound  of  the  word  task,  we 
should  at  the  same  time  avoid  the  error  of  those  who,  in 
their  first  lessons, accustom  their  pupils  to  so  much  amuse- 
ment, that  they  cannot  help  afterward  feeling  disgusted 
with  the  sobriety  of  instruction.  It  has  been  the  fashion 
of  late  to  attempt  teaching  every  thing  to  children  in 
play ;  and  ingenious  people  have  contrived  to  insinuate 
much  useful  knowledge  without  betraying  the  design  to 
instruct ;  but  this  system  cannot  be  pursued  beyond  cer- 
tain bounds  without  many  inconveniences.  The  habit 
of  being  amused  not  only  increases  the  desire  for  amuse- 
ment, but  it  lessens  even  the  relish  for  pleasure  ;  so  that 
the  mind  becomes  passive  and  indolent,  and  a  course 
of  perpetually  increasing  stimulus  is  necessary  to  awaken 
attention.  When  dissipated  habits  are  acquired,  the 
pupil  loses  power  over  his  own  mind  ;  and,  instead  of 
vigorous  voluntary  exertion,  which  he  should  be  able  to 
command,  he  shows  that  wayward  imbecility  which  can 
think  successfully  only  by  fits  and  starts  :  this  paralytic 
state  of  mind  has  been  found  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
calamities  attendant  on  what  is  called  genius ;  and  inju- 
dicious education  creates  or  increases  this  disease.  Let 
us  not,  therefore,  humour  children  in  this  capricious 
5 


50  PRACTICAL     KDUCATiON. 

temper,  especially  if  they  have  quick  abilities ;  let  us 
give  rewards  proportioned  to  their  exertions  with  uni- 
form justice,  but  let  us  not  grant  bounties  in  education^ 
which,  however  they  may  appear  to  succeed  in  effect- 
ing partial  and  temporary  purposes,  are  not  calculated 
to  ensure  any  consequences  permanently  beneficial. 
The  truth  is,  that  useful  knowledge  cannot  be  obtained 
without  labour  ;  that  attention  long  continued  is  labori- 
ous, but  that  without  this  labour  nothing  excellent  can 
•  be  accomplished.  Excite  a  child  to  attend  in  earnest 
for  a  short  time,  his  mind  will  be  less  fatigued,  and  his 
understanding  more  improved,  than  if  he  had  exerted 
but  half  the  energy  twice  as  long:  the  degree  of  pain 
which  he  may  have  felt  will  be  amply  and  properly  com- 
pensated by  his  success  ;  this  will  not  be  an  arbitrary, 
variable  reward,  but  one  within  his  own  power,  and  that 
can  be  ascertained  by  his  own  feelings.  Here  is  no  de- 
ceit practised,  no  illusion;  the  same  course  of  conduct 
may  be  regularly  pursued  through  the  whole  of  his  edu- 
cation, and  his  confidence  in  his  tutor  will  progressively 
increase.  On  the  contrary,  if,  to  entice  him  to  enter 
the  paths  of  knowledge,  we  strew  them  with  flowers, 
how  will  he  feel  when  he  must  force  his  way  through 
thorns  and  briers ! 

There  is  a  material  difference  between  teaching  chil- 
dren in  play,  and  making  learning  a  task  ;  in  the  one  case 
we  associate  factitious  pleasure,  in  the  other  factitious 
pain,  with  the  object :  both  produce  pernicious  effects 
upon  the  temper,  and  retard  the  natural  progress  of  the 
understanding.  The  advocates  in  favour  of  "  scholastic 
badinage"  have  urged  that  it  excites  an  interest  in  the 
minds  of  children  similar  to  that  which  makes  them  en- 
dure a  considerable  degree  of  labour  in  the  pursuit  of 
their  amusements.  Children,  it  is  said,  work  hard  at 
play,  therefore  we  should  let  them  play  at  work.  Would 
not  this  produce  effects  the  very  reverse  of  what  we 
desire  \  The  whole  question  must  at  last  depend  upon 
the  meaning  of  the  word  play  :  if  by  play  be  meant  every 
thing  that  is  not  usually  called  a  task,  then  undoubtedly 
much  may  be  learned  at  play :  if,  on  the  contrary,  we 
mean  by  the  expression  to  describe  that  state  of  fidget- 
ing idleness,  or  of  boisterous  activity,  in  which  the  in- 
tellectual powers  are  torpid,  or  stunned  wi-.fi  unmeaning 
noise,  the  assertion  contradicts  itself.  At  play  so  de- 
fined, children  can  learn  nothing  but  b^  -lily  activity  ;  it 


TASKS.  51 

is  certainly  true,  that  when  children  are  interested  about 
any  thing,  whether  it  be  about  what  we  call  a  trifle,  or 
a  matter  of  consequence,  they  will  exert  themselves  hi 
order  to  succeed  ;  but  from  the  moment  the  attention 
is  fixed,  no  matter  on  what,  children  are  no  longer  at 
idle  play,  they  are  at  active  work. 

S ,  a  little  boy  of  nine  years  old,  was  standing 

without  any  book  in  his  hand,  and  seemingly  idle  ;  he 
was  amusing  himself  with  looking  at  what  he  called  a 

rainbow  upon  the  floor  ;  he  begged  his  sister  M t| 

look  at  it ;  then  he  said  he  wondered  what  could  makfl 
it;  how  it  came  there.  The  sun  shone  bright  througlt 
the  window  ;  the  boy  moved  several  things  in  the  room, 
so  as  to  place  them  sometimes  between  the  light  and  the 
colours  which  he  saw  upon  the  floor,  and  sometimes  in  a 
corner  of  the  room  where  the  sun  did  not  shine.  As  he 
moved  the  things,  he  said,  "  This  is  not  it" — "  nor  this" 
— "  this  hasn't  any  thing  to  do  with  it."  At  last  he 
found,  that  when  he  moved  a  tumbler  of  water  out  of  the 
place  where  it  stood,  his  rainbow  vanished.  Some  vio- 
lets were  in  the  tumbler  ;  S thought  they  might  be 

the  cause  of  the  colours  which  he  saw  upon  the  floor, 
or,  as  he  expressed  it,  "Perhaps  these  may  be  the  thing." 
He  took  the  violets  out  of  the  water;  the  colours  re- 
mained upon  the  floor.  He  then  thought  that  "  it 
might  be  the  water."  He  emptied  the  glass ;  the  colours 

remained,  but  they  were  fainter.  S immediately 

observed  that  it  was  the  water  and  glass  together  that 
made  the  rainbow.  "  But,"  said  he,  "  there  is  no  glass  in 
the  sky,  yet  there  is  a  rainbow,  so  that  I  think  the  water 
alone  would  do,  if  we  could  but  hold  it  together  without 
the  glass.  Oh,  1  know  how  1  can  manage."  He  poured 
the  water  slowly  out  of  the  tumbler  into  a  basin,  which 
he  placed  where  the  sun  shone,  and  he  saw  the  colours 
on  the  floor  twinkling  behind  the  water  as  it  fell :  this 
delighted  him  much ;  but  he  asked  why  it  would  ndt  do 
when  the  sun  did  not  shine.  The  sun  went  behind  a 
cloud  while  he  was  trying  his  experiments :  "  There 
was  light,"  said  he,  "  though  there  was  no  sunshine." 
He  then  said  he  thought  that  the  different  thickness  of 
the  glass  was  the  cause  of  the  variety  of  colours  :  after- 
ward he  said  he  thought  that  the  clearness  or  muddiness 
of  the  different  drops  of  water  was  the  cause  of  the  dif- 
ferent colours. 

A  rigid  preceptor,  who  thinks  that  every  boy  must  be 

ca 


62  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

idle  who  has  not  a  Latin  book  constantly  in  his  hand, 

would  perhaps  have  reprimanded  S for  wasting  his 

time  at  play,  and  would  have  summoned  him  from  his 
rainbow  to  his  task;  but  it  is  very  obvious  to  any  person 
free  from  prejudices,  that  this  child  was  not  idle  while 
he  was  meditating  upon  the  rainbow  on  the  floor;  his 
attention  was  fixed ;  he  was  reasoning ;  he  was  trying 
experiments.  We  may  call  this  play  if  we  please,  and 
we  may  say  that  Descartes  was  at  play  when  he  first 
verified  Antonio  de  Dominis,  Bishop  of  Spalatro's,  trea- 
tise of  the  rainbow,  by  an  experiment  with  a  glass 
globe  :*-  and  we  may  say  that  Buffon  was  idle,  when  his 
pleased  attention  was  first  caught  with  a  landscape  of 
green  shadows,  when  one  evening  at  sunset  he  first  ob- 
served that  the  shadows  oftre.es,  which  fell  upon  a  white 
wall,  were  green.  He  was  first  delighted  with  the  ex- 
act representation  of  a  green  arbour,  which  seemed  as 
if  it  had  been  newly  painted  on  the  wall.  Certainly 
the  boy  with  his  rainbow  on  the  floor  was  as  much 
amused  as  the,  philosopher  with  his  coloured  shadows  ; 
and,  however  high-sounding  the  name  of  Antonio  de 
Dominis,  Bishop  of  Spalatro,  it  does  not  alter  the  busi- 
ness in  the  least ;  he  could  have  exerted  only  his  utmost 
attention  upon  the  theory  of  the  rainbow,  and  the  child 
did  the  same.  We  do  not  mean  to  compare  the  powers 
of  reasoning,  or  the  abilities  of  the  child  and  the  philoso- 
pher ;  we  would  only  show  that  the  same  species  of  at- 
tention was  exerted  by  both. 

To  fix  the  attention  of  children,  or,  in  other  words,  to 
interest  them  about  those  subjects  to  which  we  wish 
them  to  apply,  must  be  our  first  object  in  the  early  cul- 
tivation of  the  understanding.  This  we  shall  not  find  a 
difficult  undertaking  if  we  have  no  false  associations,  no 
painful  recollections  to  contend  with.  We  can  connect 
any  species  of  knowledge  with  those  occupations  which 
are  immediately  agreeable  to  young  people  :  for  instance, 
if  a  child  is  building  a  house,  we  may  take  that  oppor- 
tunity to  teach  him  how  bricks  are  made,  how  the  arches 
over  doors  and  windows  are  made,  the  nature  of  the  key- 
stone and  butments  of  an  arch,  the  manner  in  which  all 
the  different  parts  of  the  roof  of  a  house  are  put  to- 
gether, &c.  ;  while  he  is  learning  all  this  he  is  eagerly 
and  seriously  attentive,  and  we  educate  his  understand- 

*  See  Priestley's  History  of  Vision,  vol.  i.  p.  51. 


TASKS.  53 

ing  in  the  best  possible  method.  But  if,  mistaking  the 
application  of  the  principle,  that  literature  should  be 
made  agreeable  to  children,  we  should  entice  a  child  to 
learn  his  letters  by  a  promise  of  a  gilt  coach,  or  by  tel- 
ling him  that  he  would  be  the  cleverest  boy  in  the  world 
if  he  could  but  learn  the  letter  A,  we  use  false  and  fool- 
ish motives;  we  may  possibly,  by  such  means,  effect 
the  immediate  purposej  but  we  shall  assuredly  have 
reason  to  repent  of  such  imprudent  deceit.  If  the  child 
reasons  at  all,  he  will  be  content  after  his  first  lesson 
with  being  "  the  cleverest  boy  in  the  world,"  and  he 
will  not,  on  a  future  occasion,  hazard  his  fame,  having 
much  to  lose,  and  nothing  to  gain ;  besides,  he  is  now 
master  of  a  gilt  coach,  and  some  new  and  larger  re- 
ward must  be  proffered  to  excite  his  industry.  Be- 
sides the  disadvantage  of  early  exhausting  our  stock  of 
incitements,  it  is  dangerous  in  teaching  to  humour  pu- 
pils with  a  variety  of  objects  by  way  of  relieving  their 
attention.  The  pleasure  of  thinking,  and  much  of  the 
profit,  must  frequently  depend  upon  preserving  the 
greatest  possible  connexion  between  our  ideas.  Those 
who  allow  themselves  to  start  from  one  object  to  another, 
acquire  such  dissipated  habits  of  mind,  that  they  can- 
not, without  extreme  difficulty  and  reluctance,  follow 
any  connected  train  of  thought.  You  cannot  teach 
those  who  will  not  follow  the  chain  of  your  reasons ; 
upon  the  connexion  of  our  ideas,  useful  memory  and- 
reasoning  must  depend.  We  will  give  you  an  instance  : 
arithmetic  is  one  of  the  first  things  that  we  attempt  to 
teach  children.  In  the  following  dialogue,  which  passed 
between  a  boy  of  five  years  old  and  his  father,  we  may 
observe  that,  till  the  child  followed  his  father's  train  of 
ideas,  he  could  not  be  taught. 

Father.  S ,  how  many  can  you  take  from  one  1 

S .  None. 

Father.  None !  Think ;  can  you   take  nothing  from 
one? 

£ .  None,  except  that  one. 

Father.  Except!     Then  you, can  take  one  from  one? 

<S .  Yes,  that  one. 

Father.  How  many,  then,  can  you  take  from  one  ? 

S.~— .  One. 

Father.  Very  true ;  but  now,  can  you  take  two  from 
one? 

»S .  Yes,  if  they  were  figures  I  could  with  a  rub- 


54  PRACTICAL    KDUCATiON. 

ber-out.  (This  child  had  frequently  sums  written  for 
him  with  a  black  lead  pencil,  and  he  used  to  rub  out  his 
figures  when  they  were  wrong  with  India-rubber,  which 
he  had  heard  called  rubber-out.) 

Father.  Yes,  you  could  ;  but  now  we  will  not  talk  of 
figures,  we  will  talk  of  things.  There  may  be  one  horse 
or  two  horses,  or  one  man  or  two  men. 

£.— — .  Yes,  or  one  coat  or  two  coats. 

Father.  Yes,  or  one  thing  or  two  things,  no  matter 
what  they  are.  Now,  could  you  take  two  things  from 
one  thing  1 

S .  Yes,  if  there  were  three  things  I  could  take 

away  two  things,  and  leave  one. 

His  father  took  up  a  cake  from  the  tea-table. 

Father.  Could  I  take  two  cakes  from  this  one  cake  ? 

S .  You  could  take  two  pieces. 

His  father  divided  the  cake  into  halves,  and  held  up 
each  half,  so  that  the  child  might  distinctly  see  them. 

Father.  What  would  you  call  these  two  pieces  ? 

S .  Two  cakes. 

Father.  No,  not  two  cakes. 

*S .  Two  biscuits. 

Father.  (Holding  up  a  whole  biscuit :)  What  is  this  1 

-S .  A  thing  to  eat. 

Father.  Yes,  but  what  would  you  call  it  ] 

<S .  A  biscuit. 

His  father  broke  it  into  halves,  and  showed  one  half. 

Father.  What  would  you  call  this  ? 

£ was  silent,  and  his  sister  was  applied  to,  who 

answered,  "  Half  a  biscuit." 

Father.  Very  well ;  that's  all  at  present. 

The  father  prudently  stopped  here,  that  he  might  not 
confuse  his  pupil's  understanding.  Those  only  who 
have  attempted  to  teach  children  can  conceive  how  ex- 
tremely difficult  it  is  to  fix  their  attention,  or  to  make 
them  seize  the  connexion  of  ideas,  which  it  appears  to 
us  almost  impossible  to  miss.  Children  are  well  occu- 
pied in  examining  external  objects,  but  they  must  also 
attend  to  words  as  well  as  things.  One  of  the  great 
difficulties  in  early  instruction  arises  from  the  want  of 
words:  the  pupil  very  often  has  acquired  the  necessary 
ideas,  but  they  are  not  associated  in  his  mind  with  the 
words  which  his  tutor  uses ;  these  words  are  then  to 
him  mere  sounds,  which  suggest  no  correspondent 


TASKS.  55 

thoughts.  Words,  as  M.  Condillac  well  observes,*  are 
essential  to  our  acquisition  of  knowledge  ;  they  are.  lhe_ 
medium  through  which  one  set  of  beings  can  convey 
the  result  of  their  experiments  and  observations  to 
another ;  they  are,  in  all  mental  processes,  the  algebraic 
signs  which  assist  us  in  solving  the  most  difficult  prob- 
lems. What  agony  does  a  foreigner,  knowing  himself 
to  be  a  man  of  sense,  appear  to  ^suffer,  when,  for  want 
of  language,  he  cannol  in  conversation  communicate 
his  knowledge,  explain  his  reasons,  enforce  his  argu- 
ments, or  make  his  wit  intelligible  ?  In  vain  he  has  re- 
course to  the  language  of  action.  The  language  of  ac- 
tion, or,  as  Bacon  calls  it,  of  "  transitory  hieroglyphic," 
is  expressive,  but  inadequate.  As  new  ideas  are  col- 
lected in  the  mind,  new  signs  are  wanted ;  and  the  prog- 
ress of  the  understanding  would  be  early  and  fatally 
impeded  by  the  want  of  language.  M.  de  la  Condamine 
tells  us  that  there  is  a  nation  who  have  no  sign  to  express 
the  number  three  but  this 'word,  poellartarrorincourac. 
These  people  having  begun,  as  Condillac  observes,  in  such 
an  incommodious  manner,  it  is  not  surprising  that  they 
have  not  advanced  further  in  their  knowledge  of  arith- 
metic :  they  have  got  no  further  than  the  number 
three  ;  their  knowledge  of  arithmetic  stops  for  ever  at 
poellartarrorincourac.  But  even  this  cumbersome  sign  is 
better  than  none.  Those  who  have  the  misfortune  to 
be  born  deaf  and  dumb,  continue  for  ever  in  intellectual 
imbecility.  There  is  an  account  in  the  Memoires  de 
1'Academie  Royale,  p.  xxii — xxiii,  1703,  of  a  young  man 
born  deaf  and  dumb,|  who  recovered  his  hearing  at  the 
age  of  four-and-twenty,  and  who,  after  employing  him- 
self in  repeating  low  to  himself  the  words  which  he 
heard  others  pronounce,  at  length  broke  silence  in  com- 
pany, and  declared  that  he  could  talk.  His  conversation 
was  but  imperfect ;  he  was  examined  by  several  able 
theologians,  who  chiefly  questioned  him  on  his  ideas  of 
God,  the  soul,  and  the  morality  or  immorality  of  actions. 
It  appeared  that  he  had  not  thought  upon  any  of  these 
subjects ;  he  did  not  distinctly  know  what  was  meant 
by  death,  and  he  never  thought  of  it.  He  seemed  to 
pass  a  merely  animal  life,  occupied  with  sensible,  present 

*  "  Art  de  Penser." 

f  See  Condillac's  Art  de  Penser.    In  the  chapter  "  on  the  use  of 
signs,"  this  young  man  is  mentioned. 


56  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

objects,  and  with  a  few  ideas  which  he  received  by  his 
sense  of  sight ;  nor  did  he  seem  to  have  gained  as  much 
knowledge  as  he  might  have  done,  by  the  comparison 
of  these  ideas ;  yet  it  is  said  that  he  did  not  appear 
naturally  deficient  in  understanding. 

Peter,  the  wild  boy,  who  is  mentioned  in  Lord  Mon- 
boddo's  Origin  of  Language,*  had  all  his  senses  in  re. 
markable  perfection.  He  lived  at  a  farmhouse  within 
half  a  mile  of  us  in  Hertfordshire  for  some  years,  and 
we  had  frequent  opportunities  of  trying  experiments 
upon  him.  He  could  articulate  imperfectly  a  few  words, 
in  particular,  King  George,  which  words  he  always  ac- 
companied with  ,an  imitation  of  the  bells,  which  rang  at 
the  coronation  of  George  the  Second  ;  he  could  in  a 
manner  imitate  two  or  three  common  tunes,  but  without 
words.  Though  his  head,  as  Mr.  Wedgewood  and 
many  others  had  remarked,  resembled  that  of  Socrates, 
he  was  an  idiot :  he  had  acquired  a  few  automatic  habits 
of  rationality  and  industry,  but  he  could  never  be  made 
to  work  at  any  continued  occupation  :  he  would  shut 
the  door  of  the  farmyard  five  hundred  times  a  day,  but 
he  would  not  reap  or  make  hay.  Drawing  water  from 
a  neighbouring  river  was  the  only  domestic  business 
which  he  regularly  pursued.  In  1779  we  visited  him, 
and  tried  the  following  experiment.  He  was  attended 
to  the  river  by  a  person  who  emptied  his  buckets  re- 
peatedly, after  Peter  had  repeatedly  filled  them.  A  shil- 
ling was  put  before  his  face  into  one  of  the  buckets 
when  it  was  empty  ;  he  took  no  notice  of  it,  but  filled  it 
with  water  and  carried  it  homeward  :  his  buckets  were 
taken  from  him  before  he  reached  the  house  and  emptied 
on  .the  ground ;  the  shilling,  which  had  fallen  out,  was 
again  shown  to  him,  and  put  into  the  bucket.  Peter  re- 
turned to  the  river  again,  filled  his  bucket,  and  went 
home  ;  and  when  the  bucket  was  emptied  by  the  maid 
at  the  house  where  he  lived,  he  took  the  shilling  and 
laid  it  in  a  place  where  he  was  accustomed  to  deposite 
the  presents  that  were  made  to  him  by  curious  strangers, 
and  whence  the  farmer's  wife  collected  the  price  of  his 
daily  exhibition.  It  appeared  that  this  savage  could  not 
be  taught  to  reason  for  want  of  language. 

Rousseau  declaims  with  eloquence,  and  often  with 
justice,  against  what  he  calls  a  knowledge  of  words. 


TASKS.  57 

Words  without  correspondent  ideas  are  worse  than 
useless  ;  they  are  counterfeit  coin,  which  imposes  upon 
the  ignorant  and  unwary :  but  words  which  really  rep- 
resent ideas,  are  not  only  of  current  use,  but  of  ster- 
ling value  ;  they  not  only  show  our  present  store,  but 
they  increase  our  wealth,  by  keeping  it  in  continual  cir- 
culation ;  both  the  principal  and  the  interest  increase 
together.  The  importance  of  signs  and  words  in  our 
reasonings,  has  been  eloquently  explained  since  the 
time  of  Condillac,  by  Stewart.  We  must  use  the  ideas 
of  these  excellent  writers,  because  they  are  just  and 
applicable  to  the  art  of  education ;  but  while  we  use, 
it  is  with  proper  acknowledgments  that  we  borrow, 
what  we  shall  never  be  able  to  return. 

It  is  a  nice  and  difficult  thing  in  education,  to  pro- 
portion a  child's  vocabulary  exactly  to  his  knowledge, 
dispositions,  or  conformation  ;  our  management  must 
vary ;  some  will  acquire  words  too  quickly,  others  too 
slowly.  A  child  who  has  great  facility  in  pronouncing 
sounds,  will,  for  that  reason,  quickly  acquire  a  number 
of  words  ;  while  those  whose  organs  of  speech  are  not 
so  happily  formed,  will,  from  that  cause  alone,  be  ready 
in  forming  a  copious  vocabulary.  Children  who  have 
many  companions,  or  who  live  with  people  who  con- 
verse a  great  deal,  have  more  motive,  both  from  sym- 
pathy and  emulation,  to  acquire  a  variety  of  words,  than 
those  who  live  with  silent  people,  and  who  have  few 
companions  of  their  own  age.  All  these  circumstances 
should  be  considered  by  parents,  before'they  form  their 
judgment  of  a  child's  capacity  from  his  volubility  or  his 
taciturnity.  Volubility  can  easily  be  checked  by  simply 
ceasing  to  attend  to  it,  and  taciturnity  may  be  van- 
quished by  the  encouragements  of  praise  and  affection  : 
we  should  neither  be  alarmed  at  one  disposition  nor  at 
the  other,  but  steadily  pursue-the  system  of  conduct 
which  will  be  most  advantageous  to  both.  When  a 
prattling,  vivacious  child  pours  forth  a  multiplicity  of 
words  without  understanding  their  meaning,  we  may 
sometimes  beg  to  have  an  explanation  of  a  few  of  them, 
and  the  child  will  then  be  obliged  to  think,  which  will 
prevent  him  from  talking  nonsense  another  time.  When 
a  thoughtful  boy,  who  is  in  the  habit  of  observing  every 
object  he  sees,  is  at  a  loss  for  words  to  express  his  ideas, 
his  countenance  usually  shows,  to  those  who  can  read 
the  countenance  of  children,  that  he  is  not  stupid  ; 
C  3 


68  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

therefore,  we  need  not  urge  him  to  talk,  but,  assist  him 
judiciously  with  words  "  in  his  utmost  need  :"  at  the 
same  time  we  should  observe  carefully,  whether  he 
grows  lazy  when  we  assist  him ;  if  his  stock  of  words 
does  not  increase  in  proportion  to  the  assistance  we 
give,  we  should  then  stimulate  him  to  exertion,  or  else 
he  will  become  habitually  indolent  in  expressing  his 
ideas ;  though  he  may  think  in  a  language  of  his  own, 
he  will  not  be  able  to  understand  our  language  when 
we  attempt  to  teach  him :  this  would  be  a  source  of 
daily  misery  to  both  parties. 

When  children  begin  to  read,  they  seem  suddenly  to 
acquire  a  great  variety  of  words  :  we  should  carefully 
examine  whether  they  annex  the  proper  meaning  to 
these  which  are  so  rapidly  collected.  Instead  of  giving 
them  lessons  and  tasks  to  get  by  rote,  we  should  cau- 
tiously watch  over  every  new  phrase  and  every  new 
word  which  they  learn  from  books.  There  are- but  few 
books  so  written  that  young  children  can  comprehend 
a  single  sentence  in  them  without  much  explanation. 
It  is  tiresome  to  those  who  hear  them  read  to  explain 
every  word ;  it  is  not  only  tiresome,  but  difficult ;  be- 
sides, the  progress  of  the  pupil  seems  to  be  retarded ; 
the  grand  business  of  reading,  of  getting  through  the 
bopk,  is  impeded ;  and  the  tutor,  more  impatient  than 
his  pupil,  says,  "Read  on;  I  cannot  stop  to  explain 
that  to  you  now.  You  will  understand  the  meaning  of 
the  sentence  if  you  will  read  to  the  end  of  the  page. 
You  have  not  read  three  lines  this  half  hour ;  we  shall 
never  get  on  at  this  rate." 

A  certain  dame  at  a  country  school,  who  had  never 
been  able  to  compass  the  word  Nebuchadnezzar,  used 
to  desire  her  pupils  to  "  call  it  Nazareth,  and  let  it 


If  they  be  obliged  to  pass  over  words  without  com- 
prehending them  in  books,  they  will  probably  do  the 
same  in  conversation ;  and  the  difficulty  of  teaching 
such  pupils,  and  of  understanding  what  they  say,  will 
be  equally  increased.  At  the  hazard  of  being  tedious, 
we  must  dwell  a  little  longer  upon  this  subject,  because 
much  of  the  future  capacity  of  children  seems  to  de- 
pend upon  the  manner  in  which  they  first  acquire  lan- 
guage. If  their  language  be  confused,  so  will  be  their 
thoughts  ;  and  they  will  not  be  able  to  reason,  to  invent, 
or  to  write,  with  more  precision  and  accuracy  than  they 


TASKS.  59 

speak.  The  first  words  that  children  learn  are  the 
names  of  things :  these  are  easily  associated  with  the 
objects  themselves,  and  there  is  little  danger  of  mistake 
or  confusion.  We  will  not  enter  into  the  grammatical 
dispute  concerning  the  right  of  precedency,  among  pro- 
nouns, substantives,  and  verbs  ;  we  do  not  know  which 
came  first  into  the  mind  of  man ;  perhaps,  in  different 
minds,  and  in  different  circumstances,  the  precedency 
must  have  varied  ;  but  this  seems  to  be  of  little  conse- 
quence ;  children  see  actions  performed,  and  they  act 
themselves :  when  they  want  to  express  their  remem- 
brance of  these  actions,  they  make  use  of  the  sort  of 
1  words  which  we  call  verbs.  Let  these  words  be  strictly 
associated  with  the  ideas  which  they  mean  to  express, 
and  no  matter  whether  children  know  any  thing  about 
the  disputes  of  grammarians,  they  will  understand 
rational  grammar  in  due  time,  simply  by  reflecting 
upon  their  own  minds.  This  we  shall  explain  more 
fully  when  we  speak  hereafter  of  grammar ;  we  just 
mention  the  subject  here,  to  warn  preceptors  against 
puzzling  their  pupils  too  early  with  grammatical  subt- 
leties. 

If  any  person  unused  to  mechanics  were  to  read  Dr. 
Desagulier's  description  of  the  manner  in  which  a  man 
walks,  the  number  of  a-b-c's,  arid  the  travels  of  the 
centre  of  gravity,  it  would  so  amaze  and  confound  him, 
that  he  would  scarcely  believe  he  could  ever  again  per- 
form such  a  tremendous  operation  as  that  of  walking. 
Children,  if  they  were  early  to  hear  grammarians  talk 
of  the  parts  of  speech,  and  of  syntax,  would  conclude, 
that  to  speak  must  be  one  of  the  most  difficult  arts  in 
the  world  ;  but  children,  who  are  not  usually  so  unfor- 
tunate as  to  have  grammarians  for  their  preceptors, 
when  they  first  begin  to  speak,  acquire  language,  with- 
out being  aware  of  the  difficulties  which  would  appear 
so  formidable  in  theory.  A  child  points  to,  or  touches 
the  table,  and  when  the  word  table  is  repeated,  at  the 
same  instant  he  learns  the  name  of  the  thing.  The 
facility  with  which  a  number  of  names  are  thus  learned 
in  infancy  is  surprising  ;  but  we  must  not  imagine  that 
the  child,  in  learning  these  names,  has  acquired  much 
knowledge ;  he  has  prepared  himself  to  be  taught,  but 
he  has  not  yet  learned  any  thing  accurately.  When  a 
child  sees  a  guinea  and  a  shilling,  and  smiling  says, 
"  That's  a  guinea,  mamma !  and  that's  a  shilling !"  the 


60  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

mother  is  pleased  and  surprised  by  her  son's  intelli- 
gence,  and  she  gives  him  credit  for  more  than  he  really 
possesses.  We  have  associated  with  the  words  guinea 
and  shilling  a  number  of  ideas,  and  when  we  hear  the 
same  words  pronounced  by  a  young  child,  we  perhaps 
have  some  confused  belief  that  he  has  acquired  the 
same  ideas  that  we  have  ;  hence  we  are  pleased  with 
the  mere  sound  of  words  of  high  import  from  infantine 
lips. 

Children,  who  are  delighted  in  their  turn  by  the  ex- 
pression of  pleasure  in  the  countenance  of  others,  repeat 
the  things  which  they  perceive  have  pleased ;  and  thus 
their  education  is  begun  by  those  who  first  smile  upon 
them,  and  listen  to  them  when  they  attempt  to  speak. 
They  who  applaud  children  for  knowing  the  names  of 
things,  induce  them  quickly  to  learn  a  number  of  names 
by  rote ;  as  long  as  they  learn  the  names  of  external 
objects  only,  which  they  can  see,  and  smell,  and  touch, 
all  is  well ;  the  names  will  convey  distinct  ideas  of  cer- 
tain perceptions.  A  child  who  learns  the  name  of  a 
taste,  or  of  a  colour,  who  learns  that  the  taste  of  sugar 
is  called  sweet,  and  that  the  colour  of  a  red  rose  is 
called  red,  has  learned  distinct  words  to  express  certain 
perceptions;  and  we  can  at  any  future  time  recall  to  his 
mind  the  memory  of  those  perceptions  by  means  of 
their  names,  and  he  understands  us  as  well  as  the  most 
learned  philosopher.  But,  suppose  that  a  boy  had 
learned  only  the  name  of  gold  ;  that  when  different 
metals  were  shown  to  him,  he  could  put  his  finger  upon 
-old,  and  say,  "  That  is  gold ;"  yet  this  boy  does  not 
know  all  the  properties  of  gold  ;  he  does  not  know  in 
what  it  differs  from  other  metals  ;  to  what  uses  it  is 
applied  in  arts,  manufactures,  and  commerce  ;  the  name 
of  gold,  in  his  mind,  represents  nothing  more  than  a 
substance  of  a  bright  yellow  colour,  upon  which  people, 
he  does  not  precisely  know  why,  set  a  great  value. 
Now,  it  is  very  possible,  that  a  child  might,  on  the  con- 
trary, learn  all  the  properties,  and  the  various  uses  of 
gold,  without  having  learned  its  name  :  his  ideas  of  this 
metal  would  be  perfectly  distinct ;  but  whenever  he 
wished  to  speak  of  gold,  he  would  be  obliged  to  use  a 
vast  deal  of  circumlocution  to  make  himself  under- 
stood ;  and  if  he  were  to  enumerate  all  the  properties 
of  the  metal  every  time  he  wanted  to  recall  the  general 
idea,  his  conversation  would  be  intolerably  tedious  to 


TASKS.  61 

others,  and  to  himself  this  useless  repetition  must  be 
extremely  laborious.  He  would  certainly  be  glad  to 
learn  that  single  word  gold,  which  would  save  him  so 
much  trouble  ;  his  understanding  would  appear  suddenly 
to  have  improved,  simply  from  his  having  acquired  a 
proper  sign  to  represent  his  ideas.  The  boy  who  had 
learned  the  name,  without  knowing  any  of  the  properties 
of  gold,  would  also  appear  comparatively  ignorant,  as 
soon  as  it  is  discovered  that  he  has  few  ideas  annexed 
to  the  word.  It  is,  perhaps,  for  this  reason,  that  some 
children  seem  suddenly  to  shine  out  with  knowledge, 
which  no  one  suspected  they  possessed ;  while  others, 
who  had  appeared  to  be  very  quick  and  clever,  come  to 
a  dead  stop  in  their  education,  and  appear  to  be  blighted 
by  some  unknown  cause.  The  children  who  suddenly 
shine  out,  are  those  who  had  acquired  a  number  of 
ideas,  and  who,  the  moment  they  acquire  proper  words, 
can  communicate  their  thoughts  to  others.  Those 
children  who  suddenly  seem  to  lose  their  superiority, 
are  those  who  had  acquired  a  variety  of  words,  but  who 
had  not  annexed  ideas  to  them.  When  their  ignorance 
is  detected,  we  not  only  despair  of  them,  but  they  are 
apt  to  despair  of  themselves  :  they  see  their  companions 
get  before  them,  and  they  do  not  exactly  perceive  the 
cause  of  their  sudden  incapacity.  Where  we  speak  of 
sensible,  visible,  tangible  objects,  we  can  easily  detect 
and  remedy  a  child's  ignorance.  It  is  easy  to  discover 
whether  he  has  or  has  not  a  complete  notion  of  such  a 
substance  as  gold  ;  we  can  enumerate  its  properties, 
and  readily  point  out  in  what  his  definition  is  defective. 
The  substance  can  be  easily  produced  for  examination  ; 
most  of  its  properties  are  obvious  to  the  senses ;  we 
have  nothing  to  do  but  to  show  them  to  the  child,  and 
to  associate  with  each  property  its  usual  name  ;  here 
there  can  be  no  danger  of  puzzling  his  understanding; 
but  when  we  come  to  the  explanation  of  words  which 
do  not  represent  external  objects,  we  shall  find  the  affair 
more  difficult.  We  can  make  children  understand  the 
meaning  of  those  words  which  are  the  names  of  simple 
feelings  of  the  mind,  such  as  surprise,  joy,  grief,  pity ; 
because  we  can  either  put  our  pupils  in  situations 
where  they  actually  feel  these  sensations,  and  then  we 
may  associate  the  name  with  the  feelings  ;  or  we  may, 
by  the  example  of  other  people,  who  actually  suffer 
pain  or  enjoy  pleasure,  point  out  what  we  moan  by 


62  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

the  words  joy  and  grief.  But  how  shall  we  explain 
to  our  young  pupils  a  number  of  words  which  represent 
neither  existing  substances  nor  simple  feelings,  when 
we  can  neither  recur  to  experiment  nor  to  sympathy 
for  assistance  ?  How  shall  we  explain,  for  instance, 
the  words  virtue,  justice,  benevolence,  beauty,  taste, 
&c.  1  To  analyze  our  own  ideas  of  these  is  no  easy 
task ;  to  explain  the  process  to  a  young  child  is  scarcely 
possible.  Call  upon  any  man,  who  has  read  and  re- 
flected, for  a  definition  of  virtue  ;  the  whole  "  theory  of 
moral  sentiments"  rises,  perhaps,  to  his  view  at  once, 
in  all  its  elegance  ;  the  paradoxical  acumen  of  Mande- 
ville,  the  perspicuous  reasoning  of  Hume,  the  accurate 
metaphysics  of  Condillac,  the  persuasive  eloquence  of 
Stewart ;  all  the  various  doctrines  that  have  been  sup- 
ported concerning  the  foundation  of  morals,  such  as  the 
fitness  of  things,  the  moral  sense,  the  beauty  of  truth, 
utility,  sympathy,  common  sense  ;  all  that  has  been  said 
by  ancient  and  modern  philosophers,  is  recalled  in  tran- 
sient, perplexing  succession,  to  his  memory.  If  such  be 
the  state  of  mind  of  the  man  who  is  to  define,  what 
must  be  the  condition  of  the  child  who  is  to  understand 
the  definition  1  All  that  a  prudent  person  will  attempt, 
is  to  give  instances  of  different  virtues  ;  but  even  these, 
it  will  be  difficult  properly  to  select  for  a  child.  General 
terms,  whether  in  morals  or  in  natural  philosophy, 
should,  we  apprehend,  be  as  much  as  possible  avoided 
in  early  education.  Some  people  may  imagine  that 
children  have  improved  in  virtue  and  wisdom,  when 
they  can  talk  fluently  of  justice,  and  charity,  and  hu- 
manity ;  when  they  can  read  with  a  good  emphasis  any 
didactic  compositions  in  verse  or  prose.  But  let  any 
person  of  sober  common  sense  be  allowed  to  cross- 
examine  these  proficients,  and  the  pretended  extent  of 
their  knowledge  will  shrink  into  a  narrow  compass  ; 
nor  will  their  virtues,  which  have  never  seen  service, 
be  ready  for  action. 

General  terms  are,  as  it  were,  but  the  endorsements 
upon  the  bundles  of  our  ideas ;  they  are  useful  to  those 
who  have  collected  a  number  of  ideas,  but  utterly  use- 
less to  those  who  have  no  collections  ready  for  classifi- 
cation :  nor  should  we  be  in  a  hurry  to  tie  up  the  bun- 
dles, till  we  are  sure  that  the  collection  is  tolerably  com- 
plete ;  the  trouble,  the  difficulty,  the  shame  of  untying 
them  late  in  life,  is  felt  even  by  superior  minds.  "  Sir," 


TASKS.  63 

said  Dr.  Johnson,  "  I  don't  like  to  have  any  of  my  opin- 
ions attacked.  I  have  made  up  my  fagot,  and  if  you 
draw  out  one  you  weaken  the  whole  bundle." 

Preceptors  sometimes  explain  general  terms  and  ab- 
stract notions  vaguely  to  their  pupils,  simply  because 
they  are  ashamed  to  make  that  answer  which  every  sen- 
sible person  must  frequently  make  to  a  child's  inquiries. 
"  I  don't  know."*     Surely  it  is  much  better  to  say  at 
once,  "  I  cannot  explain  this  to  you,"  than  to  attempt  an 
imperfect  or  sophistical  reply.    Fortunately  for  us,  chil- 
dren, if  they  are  not  forced  to  attend  to  studies  for  which 
they  have  no  taste,  will  not  trouble  us  much  with  moral 
and  metaphysical  questions ;  their  attention  will  be  fully 
employed  upon  external  objects;  intent  upon  experi- 
ments, they  will  not  be  very  inquisitive  about  theories. 
Let  us  then  take  care  that  their  simple  ideas  be  accu- 
rate, and  when  these  are  compounded,  their  complex 
notions,  their  principles,  opinions,  and  tastes,  will  neces- 
sarily be  just ;  their  language  will  then  be  as  accurate 
as  their  ideas  are  distinct ;  and  hence  they  will  be  ena- 
bled to  reason  with  precision  and  to  invent  with  facility. 
We  may  observe,  that  the  great  difficulty  in  reasoning 
is  to  fix  steadily  upon  our  terms ;  ideas  can  be  readily 
compared,  when  the  words  by  which  we  express  them 
are  defined ;  as  in  arithmetic  and  algebra,  we  can  easily 
solve  any  problem,  when  we  have  precise  signs  for  all 
the  numbers  and  quantities  which  are  to  be  considered. 
It  is  not  from  idleness,  it  is  not  from  stupidity,  it  is 
not  from  obstinacy,  that  children  frequently  show  an 
indisposition  to  listen  to  those  who  attempt  to  explain 
things  to  them.      The  exertion  of  attention  which  is 
frequently  required  from  them,  is  too  great  for  the  pa- 
tience of  childhood :  the  words  that  are  used  are  so  in- 
accurate in  their  signification,  that  they  convey  to  the 
mind  sometimes  one  idea  and  sometimes  another ;  we 
might  as  well  require  of  them  to  cast  up  a  sum  right 
while  we  rubbed  out  and  changed  the  figures  every  in- 
stant, as  expect  that  they  should  seize  a  combination  of 
ideas  presented  to  them  in  variable  words.     Whoever 
expects  to  command  the  attention  of  an  intelligent  child, 
must  be  extremely  careful  in  the  use  of  words.     If  the 
pupil  be  paid  for  the  labour  of  listening  by  the  pleasure 
of  understanding  what  is  said,  he  will  attend,  whether  it 

*  Rousseau. 


64  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

be  to  his  playfellow  or  to  his  tutor,  to  conversation  or 
to  books.  But  if  he  has  by  fatal  experience  discovered, 
that,  let  him  listen  ever  so  intently,  he  cannot  under- 
stand, he  will  spare  himself  the  trouble  of  fruitless  ex- 
ertion ;  and,  though  he  may  put  on  a  face  of  attention, 
his  thoughts  will  wander  far  from  his  tutor  and  his  tasks. 

"It  is  impossible  to  fix  the  attention  of  children," 
exclaims  the  tutor ;  "  when  this  boy  attends  he  can  do 
any  thing,  but  he  will  not  attend  fora  single  instant." 

Alas  !  it  is  in  vain  to  say  he  will  not  attend  ;  he  cannot. 


CHAPTER  III. 

ON    ATTENTION. 

PERE  BOURGEOIS,  one  of  the  missionaries  to  China,  at- 
tempted to  preach  a  Chinese  sermon  to  the  Chinese. 
His  own  account  of  the  business  is  the  best  we  can  give. 

"  They  told  me  Chou  signifies  a  book,  so  that  I  thought 
whenever  the  word  Chou  was  pronounced,  a  book  was 
the  subject  of  discourse  ;  not  at  all.  Chou,  the  next 
time  I  heard  it,  I  found  signified  a  tree.  Now  I  was  to 
recollect  Chou  was  a  book  and  a  tree  ;  but  this  amount- 
ed to  nothing.  Chou  I  found  also  expressed  great  heats. 
Chou  is  to  relate.  Chou  is  the  Aurora.  Chou  means,  to 
be  accustomed.  Chou  expresses  the  loss  of  a  wager,  <$c. 
I  should  never  have  done  were  I  to  enumerate  all  its 
meanings.  *  *  * 

"  I  recited  my  sermon  at  least  fifty  times  to  my  ser- 
vant before  I  spoke  it  in  public;  and  yet  I  am  told, 
though  he  continually  corrected  me,  that  of  the  ten 
parts  of  the  sermon  (as  the  Chinese  express  themselves) 
they  hardly  understood  three.  Fortunately,  the  Chinese 
are  wonderfully  patient." 

Children  are  sometimes  in  the  condition  in  which  the 
Chinese  found  themselves  at  this  learned  missionary's 
sermon,  and  their  patience  deserves  to  be  equally  com- 
mended. The  difficulty  of  understanding  the  Chinese 
Chou,  strikes  us  immediately,  and  we  sympathize  with 
Pere  Bourgeois's  perplexity  ;  yet,  many  words  which 
are  in  common  use  among  us,  may  perhaps  be  as  puz- 
zling to  children.  Block  (see  Johnson's  Dictionary) 


ATTENTION.  65 

signifies  a  heavy  piecb  of  timber,  a  mass  of  matter.  Block 
means  the  wood  on  which  hats  are  formed.  Block  means 
the  wood  on  which  criminals  are  beheaded.  Block  is  a  sea- 
term  for  pulley.  Block  is  an  obstruction,  a  stop;  and 
finally,  Block  means  a  blockhead. 

There  are,  in  our  language,  ten  meanings  for  sweet, 
ten  for  open,  twenty-two  for  upon,  and  sixty-three  for  to 
fall.  Such  are  the  defects  of  language  !  But,  whatever 
they  may  be,  we  cannot  hope  immediately  to  see  them 
reformed,  because  common  consent,  and  universal  cus- 
tom, must  combine  to  establish  a  new  vocabulary. 
None  but  philosophers  could  invent,  and  none  but  phi- 
losophers would  adopt  a  philosophical  language. 

The  new  philosophical  language  of  chymistry  was  re- 
ceived at  first  with  some  reluctance,  even  by  chymists, 
notwithstanding  its  obvious  utility  and  elegance.  Butter 
of  antimony,  and  liver  of  sulphur,  flowers  of  zinc,  oil  of 
vitriol,  and  spirit  of  sulphur  by  the  bell,  powder  of  alga- 
roth,  and  salt  of  alem-broth,  may  yet  long  retain  their 
ancient  titles  among  apothecaries.  There  does  not 
exist  in  the  mineral  kingdom  either  butter  or  oil,  or  yet 
flowers  ;  these  treacherous  names*  are  given  to  the 
most  violent  poisons,  so  that  there  is  no  analogy  to  guide 
the  understanding  or  the  memory :  but  Custom  has  a 
prescriptive  right  to  talk  nonsense.  The  barbarous 
enigmatical  jargon  of  the  ancient  adepts  continued  for 
above  a  century  to  be  the  only  chymical  language  of 
men  of  science,  notwithstanding  the  prodigious  labour 
to  the  memory,  and  confusion  to  the  understanding, 
which  it  occasioned:  they  have  but  just  now  left  off 
calling  one  of  their  vessels  for  distilling  a  death's  head, 
and  another  a  helmet.  Capricious  analogy  with  diffi- 
culty yields  to  rational  arrangement.  If  such  has  been 
the  slow  progress  of  a  philosophical  language  among 
the  learned,  how  can  we  expect  to  make  a  general,  or 
even  a  partial  reformation  among  the  ignorant  ?  And 
it  may  be  asked,  how  can  we  in  education  attempt  to 
teach  in  any  but  customary  terms  "?  There  is  no  occa- 
sion to  make  any  sudden  or  violent  alteration  in  lan- 
guage ;  but  a  man  who  attempts  to  teach  will  find  it 
necessary  to  select  his  terms  with  care,  to  define  them 
with  accuracy,  and  to  abide  by  them  with  steadiness; 
thus  he  will  make  a  philosophical  vocabulary  for  him- 

*  See  Preface  to  Berthollet's  Chymical  Nomenclature. 


66  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

self.  Persons  who  want  to  puzzle  and  to  deceive  al- 
ways pursue  a  contrary  practice  ;  they  use  as  great  a 
variety  of  unmeaning,  or  of  ambiguous  words,  as  they 
possibly  can.*  That  state  juggler,  Oliver  Cromwell, 
excelled  in  this  species  of  eloquence ;  his  speeches  are 
models  in  their  kind.  Count  Cagliostro,  and  the 
Countess  de  la  Motte,  were  not  his  superiors  in  the 
power  of  baffling  the  understanding.  The  ancient  ora- 
cles, and  the  old  books  of  judicial  astrologers,  and  of 
alchyrnists,  were  contrived  upon  the  same  principles ; 
in  all  these  we  are  confounded  by  a  multiplicity  of  words 
which  convey  a  doubtful  sense. 

Children,  who  have  not  the  habit  of  listening  to  words 
without  understanding  them,  yawn  and  writhe  with 
manifest  symptoms  of  disgust,  whenever  they  are  com- 
pelled to  hear  sounds  which  convey  no  ideas  to  their 
minds.  All  supernumerary  words  should  be  avoided  in 
cultivating  the  power  of  attention. 

The  common  observation,  that  we.  can  attend  to  but 
one  thing  at  a  time,  should  never  be  forgotten  by  those 
who  expect  to  succeed  in  the  art  of  teaching.  In  teach- 
ing new  terms,  or  new  ideas,  we  must  not  produce  a 
number  at  once.  It  is  prudent  to  consider,  that  the 
actual  progress  made  in  our  business  at  one  sitting  is 
not  of  so  much  consequence,  as  the  desire  left  in  the 
pupil's  mind  to  sit  again.  Now  a  child  will  be  better 
pleased  with  himself,  and  with  his  tutor,  if  he  acquire 
one  distinct  idea  from  a  lesson,  than  if  he  retained  a 
confused  notion  of  twenty  different  things.  Some  peo- 
ple imagine,  that  as  children  appear  averse  to  repetition, 
variety  will  amuse  them.  Variety,  to  a  certain  degree, 
certainly  relieves  the  mind  ;  but  then  the  objects  which 
are  varied  must  not  all  be  entirely  new.  Novelty  and 
variety,  joined,  fatigue  the  mind.  Either  we  remain 
passive  at  the  show,  or  else  we  fatigue  ourselves  with 
ineffectual  activity. 

A  few  years  ago,  a  gentlemanf  brought  two  Esqui- 
maux to  London — he  wished  to  amuse,  arid  at  the  same 
time  to  astonish  them,  with  the  great  magnificence  of 
the  metropolis.  For  this  purpose,  after  having  equipped 
them  like  English  gentlemen,  he  took  them  out  one 
*%orning  to  walk  through  the  streets  of  London.  They 

*  V.  Condillac's  "  Art  de  Penser." 

f  Major  Cart wright.     See  his  Journal,  &c. 


ATTENTION.  67 

walked  for  several  hours  in  silence ;  they  expressed 
neither  pleasure  nor  admiration  at  any  thing  which  they 
saw.  When  their  walk  was  ended,  they  appeared  un- 
commonly melancholy  and  stupined.  As  soon  as  they 
got  home,  they  sat  down  with  their  elbows  upon  their 
knees,  and  hid  their  faces  between  their  hands.  The 
only  words  they  could  be  brought  to  utter,  were,  "  Too 
much  smoke — too  much  noise — too  much  houses — too 
much  men — too  much  every  thing !" 

Some  people  who  attend  public  lectures  upon  natural 
philosophy,  with  the  expectation  of  being  much  amused 
and  instructed,  go  home  with  sensations  similar  to  those 
of  the  poor  Esquimaux ;  they  feel  that  they  have  had 
too  much  of  every  thing.  The  lecturer  has  not  time  to 
explain  his  terms,  or  to  repeat  them  till  they  are  distinct 
in  the  memory  of  his  audience.*  To  children,  every 
mode  of  instruction  must  be  hurtful  which  fatigues  at- 
tention ;  therefore,  a  skilful  preceptor  will,  as  much  as 
possible,  avoid  the  manner  of  teaching,  to  which  the 
public  lecturer  is  in  some  degree  compelled  by  his  situ- 
ation. A  private  preceptor,  who  undertakes  the  instruc- 
tion of  several  pupils  in  the  same  family,  will  examine 
with  care  the  different  habits  and  tempers  of  his  pupils  ; 
and  he  will  have  full  leisure  to  adapt  his  instructions 
peculiarly  to  each. 

There  are  some  general  observations  which  apply  to 
all  understandings  ;  these  we  shall  first  enumerate,  and 
we  may  afterward  examine  what  distinctions  should 
be  made  for  pupils  of  different  tempers  or  different  dis- 
positions. 

Besides  distinctness  and  accuracy  in  the  language 
which  we  use,  besides  care  to  produce  but  few  ideas  or 
terms  that  are  new  in  our  first  lessons,  we  must  exer- 
cise attention  only  during  very  short  periods.  In  the 
beginning  of  every  science  pupils  have  much  laborious 
work ;  we  should  therefore  allow  them  time  ;  we  should 
repress  our  own  impatience  when  they  appear  to  be  slow 
in  comprehending  reasons,  or  in  seizing  analogies.  We 
often  expect,  that  those  whom  we  are  teaching  should 
know  some  thing*  intuitively,  because  these  may  have 
been  so  long  known  to  us  that  we  forget  how  we  learned 
them.  We  may,  from  habit,  learn  to  pass  with  extra- 
ordinary velocity  from  one  idea  to  another.  "Some 

*  V.  Chapter  on  Mechanics. 


68  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

often  repeated  processes  of  reasoning  or  invention," 
says  Mr.  Stewart,  "  may  be  carried  on  so  quickly  in  the 
mind,  that  we  may  not  be  conscious  of  them  ourselves." 
Yet  we  easily  convince  ourselves  that  this  rapid  facility 
of  thought  is  purely  the  result  of  practice,  by  observing 
the  comparatively  slow  progress  of  our  understandings 
in  subjects  to  which  we  have  not  been  accustomed :  the 
progress  of  the  mind  is  there  so  slow,  that  we  can  count 
every  step. 

We  are  disposed  to  think  that  those  must  be  naturally 
slow  and  stupid,  who  do  not  perceive  the  resemblances 
between  objects  which  strike  us,  we  say,  at  the  first 
glance.  But  what  we  call  the  first  glance  is  frequently 
the  fiftieth :  we  have  got  the  things  completely  by  heart ; 
all  the  parts  are  known  to  us,  and  we  are  at  leisure  to 
compare  and  judge.  A  reasonable  preceptor  will  not 
expect  from  his  pupils  two  efforts  of  attention  at  the 
same  instant ;  he  will  not  require  them  at  once  to  learn 
terms  by  heart,  and  to  compare  the  objects  which  those 
terms  represent ;  he  will  repeat  his  terms  till  they  are 
thoroughly  fixed  in  the  memory;  he  will  repeat  his 
reasoning  till  the  chain  of  ideas  is  completely  formed. 

Repetition  makes  all  operations  easy ;  even  the  fa- 
tigue of  thinking  diminishes  by  habit.  That  we  may 
not  increase  the  labour  of  the  mind  unseasonably,  we 
should  watch  for  the  moment  when  habit  has  made  one 
lesson  easy,  and  when  we  may  go  forward  a  new  step. 
In  teaching  the  children  at  the  House  of  Industry  at 
Munich  to  spin,  Count  Rumford  wisely  ordered  that 
they  should  be  made  perfect  in  one  motion  before  any 
other  was  shown  to  them:  at  first  they  were  allowed 
only  to  move  the  wheel  by  the  treadle  with  their'feet ; 
when,  after  sufficient  practice,  the  foot  became  perfect 
in  its  lesson,  the  hands  were  set  to  work,  and  the  chil- 
dren were  allowed  to  begin  to  spin  with  coarse  materi- 
als. It  is  said  that  these  children  made  remarkably  good 
spinners.  Madame  de  Genlis  applied  the  same  princi- 
ple in  teaching  Adela  to  play  upon  the  harp.* 

In  the  first  attempts  to  learn  any  new  bodily  exercise, 
as  fencing  or  dancing,  persons  are  not  certain  what  mus- 
cles they  must  use,  and  what  may  be  left  at  rest ;  they 
generally  employ  those  of  which  they  have  the  most 
ready  command,  but  these  may  not  always  be  the  mus- 

f  *  V.  Adela  and  Theodore 


ATTENTION.  69 

cles  which  are  really  wanted  in  the  new  operation. 
The  simplest  thing  appears  difficult,  till,  by  practice,  we 
have  associated  the  various  slight  motions  which  ought 
to  be  combined.  We  feel,  that  from  want  of  use,  our 
motions  are  not  obedient  to  our  will ;  and  to  supply  this 
defect,  we  exert  more  strength  and  activity  than  are  re- 
quisite. "It  does  not  require  strength;  you  need  not 
use  so  much  force  ;  you  need  not  take  so  much  pains  ;" 
we  frequently  say  to  those  who  are  making  the  first 
painful,  awkward  attempts,  at  some  simple  operation. 
Can  any  thing  appear  more  easy  than  knitting,  when 
we  look  at  the  dexterous,  rapid  motions  of  an  experi- 
enced practitioner  1  But  let  a  gentleman  take  up  a 
lady's  knittingneedles,  and  knitting  appears  to  him,  and 
to  all  the  spectators,  one  of  the  most  difficult  and  labo- 
rious operations  imaginable.  A  lady  who  is  learning  to 
work  with  a  tambour  needle,  puts  her  head  down  close 
to  the  tambour  frame,  the  colour  comes  into  her  face, 
she  strains  her  eyes,  all  her  faculties  are  exerted,  and 
perhaps  she  works  at  the  rate  of  three  links  a  minute. 
A  week  afterward,  probably,  practice  has  made  the 
work  perfectly  easy ;  the  same  lady  goes  rapidly  on 
with  her  work ;  she  can  talk  and  laugh,  and  perhaps 
even  think,  while  she  works.  She  has  now  discovered 
that  a  number  of  the  motions,  and  a  great  portion  of  that 
attention  which  she  thought  necessary  to  this  mighty 
operation,  may  be  advantageously  spared. 

In  a  similar  manner,  in  the  exercise  of  our  minds  upon 
subjects  that  are  new  to  us,  we  generally  exert  more 
attention  than  is  necessary  or  serviceable,  and  we  con- 
sequently soon  fatigue  ourselves  without  any  advantage. 
Children,  to  whom  many  subjects  are  new,  are  often 
fatigued  by  these  overstrained  and  misplaced  efforts. 
In  these  circumstances,  a  tutor  should  relieve  the  atten- 
tion by  introducing  indifferent  subjects  of  conversation  : 
he  can,  by  showing  no  anxiety  himself,  either  in  his 
manner  or  countenance,  relieve  his  pupil  from  any  ap- 
prehension of  his  displeasure  or  of  his  contempt ;  he 
can  represent  that  the  object  before  them  is  not  a  mat- 
ter of  life  and  death  ;  that  if  the  child  does  not  succeed 
in  the  first  trials,  he  will  not  be  disgraced  in  the  opinion 
of  any  of  his  friends  ;  that  by  perseverance  he  will  cer- 
tainly conquer  the  difficulty ;  that  it  is  of  little  conse- 
quence whether  he  understands  the  thing  in  question  to- 
day or  to-morrow  ;  these  considerations  will  calm  the 


70  PKACTiCAL    KDOCATMN. 

over-anxious  pupil's  agitation ;  and  whether  he  succeed 
or  not,  he  will  not  suffer  such  a  degree  of  pain  as  to 
disgust  him  in  his  first  attempts. 

Besides  the  command  which  we,  by  this  prudent  man- 
agement, obtain  over  the  pupil's  mind,  we  shall  also  pre- 
vent him  from  acquiring  any  of  those  awkward  gestures 
aiid  involuntary  motions,  which  are  sometimes  practised 
to  relieve  the  pain  of  attention. 

Dr.  Darwin  observes,  that  when  we  experience  any 
disagreeable  sensations,  we  endeavour  to  procure  our- 
selves temporary  relief  by  motions  of  those  muscles 
and  limbs  which  are  most  habitually  obedient  to  our 
will.  This  observation  extends  to  mental  as  well  as  to 
bodily  pain;  thus  persons  in  violent  grief  wring  their 
hands  and  convulse  their  countenances ;  those  who  are 
subject  to  the  petty,  but  acute  miseries  of  false  shame, 
endeavour  to  relieve  themselves  by  awkward  gestures 
and  continual  motions.  A  ploughboy,  when  he  is 
brought  into  the  presence  of  those  whom  he  thinks  his 
superiors,  endeavours  to  relieve  himself  from  the  uneasy 
sensations  of  false  shame,  by  twirling  his  hat  upon  his 
fingers,  and  by  various  uncouth  gestures.  Men  who 
think  a  great  deal,  sometimes  acquire  habitual  awkward 
gestures,  to  relieve  the  pain  of  intense  thought. 

When  attention  first  becomes  irksome  to  children, 
they  mitigate  the  mental  pain  by  wrinkling  their  brows, 
or  they  fidget  and  put  themselves  into  strange  attitudes. 
These  odd  motions,  which  at  first  are  voluntary,  after 
they  have  been  frequently  associated  with  certain  states 
of  mind,  constantly  recur  involuntarily  with  those  feel- 
ings or  ideas  with  which  they  have  been  connected. 
For  instance,  a  boy  who  has  been  used  to  buckle  and 
unbuckle  his  shoe,  when  he  repeats  his  lesson  by  rote, 
cannot  repeat  his  lesson  without  performing  this  oper- 
ation ;  it  becomes  a  sort  of  artificial  memory,  which  is 
necessary  to  prompt  his  recollective  faculty.  When 
children  have  a  variety  of  tricks  of  this  sort,  they  are  of 
little  consequence  ;  but  when  they  have  acquired  a  few 
constant  and  habitual  motions,  while  they  think,  or  re- 
peat, or  listen,  these  should  be  attended  to,  and  the  hab- 
its should  be  broken,  otherwise  these  young  people  will 
appear,  when  they  grow  up,  awkward  and  ridiculous  in 
their  manners ;  and,  what  is  worse, perhaps  their  thoughts 
and  abilities  will  be  too  much  in  the  power  of  external 
circumstances.  Addison  represents,  with  nuichiiumour 


ATT  KNT10.V.  71 

the  case  of  a  poor  man  who  had  the  habif  of  twirling  a 
bit  of  thread  round  his  finger ;  the  thread  was  accident- 
ally broken,  and  the  orator  stood  mute. 

We  once  saw  a  gentleman  get  up  to  speak  in  a  public 
assembly,  provided  with  a  paper  of  notes  written  in  pen- 
cil :  during  the  exordium  of  his  speech,  he  thumbed  his 
notes  with  incessant  agitation ;  when  he  looked  at  the 
paper,  he  found  that  the  w^>rds  were  totally  obliterated  ; 
he  was  obliged  to  apologize  to  his  audience  ;  and,  after 
much  hesitation,  sat  down  abashed.  A  father  would  be 
sorry  to  see  his  son  in  such  a  predicament. 

To  prevent  children  from  acquiring  such  awkward 
tricks  while  they  are  thinking,  we  should  in  the  first 
place  take  care  not  to  make  them  attend  for  too  long  a 
time  together;  then  the  pain  of  attention  will  not  be  so 
violent  as  to  compel  them  to  use  these  strange  modes 
of  relief.  Bodily  exercise  should  immediately  follow 
that  entire  state  of  rest,  in  which  our  pupils  ought  to 
keep  themselves  while  they  attend.  The  first  symp- 
toms of  any  awkward  trick  should  be  watched  ;  they 
are  easily  prevented  by  early  care  from  becoming  ha- 
bitual. If  any  such  tricks  have  been  acquired,  and  if  the 
pupil  cannot  exert  his  attention  in  common,  unless  cer- 
tain contortions  are  permitted,  we  should  attempt  the 
cure  either  by  sudden  slight  bodily  pain,  or  by  a  total 
suspension  of  all  the  employments  with  which  these  bad 
habits  are  associated.  If  a  boy  could  not  read  without 
swinging  his  head  like  a  pendulum,  we  should  rather 
prohibit  him  from  reading  for  some  time,  than  suffer  him 
to  grow  up  with  this  ridiculous  habit.  But  in  conversa- 
tion, whenever  opportunities  occur  of  telling  him  any 
thing  in  which  he  is  particularly  interested,  we  should 
refuse  to  gratify  his  curiosity,  unless  he  keep  himself 
perfectly  still.  The  excitement  here  would  be  sufficient 
to  conquer  the  habit. 

Whatever  is  connected  with  pain  or  pleasure,  com- 
mands our  attention  ;  but  to  make  this  general  observa- 
tion useful  in  education,  we  must  examine  what  degrees 
of  stimulus  are  necessary  for  different  pupils,  and  in  dif- 
ferent circumstances.  We  have  formerly  observed,* 
that  it  is  not  prudent  early  to  use  violent  or  continual 
stimulus,  either  of  a  painful  or  a  pleasurable  nature,  to 
excite  children  to  application ;  because  we  should,  by  an 

,*  Chapter  on  Tasks 


72  PRACTICAL    KDOCATION. 

intemperate  use  of  these,  weaken  the  mind,  and  because 
we  may  with  a  little  patience  obtain  all  we  wish  without 
these  expedients.  Besides  these  reasons,  there  is  an- 
other potent  argument  against  using  violent  motives  to 
excite  attention ;  such  motives  frequently  disturb  and 
dissipate  the  very  attention  which  they  attempt  to  fix. 
If  a  child  be  threatened  with  severe  punishment,  or  flat- 
tered with  the  promise  of  some  delicious  reward,  in 
order  to  induce  his  performance  of  any  particular  task, 
he  desires  instantly  to  perform  the  task  ;  but  this  desire 
will  not  ensure  his  success  :  unless  he  have  previously 
acquired  the  habit  of  voluntary  exertion,  he  will  not  be 
able  to  turn  his  mind  from  his  ardent  wishes,  even  to 
the  means  of  accomplishing  them.  He  will  be  in  the 
situation  of  Alnaschar  in  the  Arabian  tales,  who,  while 
he  dreamed  of  his  future  grandeur,  forgot  his  immediate 
business.  The  greater  his  hope  or  fear,  the  greater  the 
difficulty  of  his  employing  himself. 

To  teach  any  new  habit  or  art,  we  must  not  employ 
any  alarming  excitements :  small,  certain,  regularly  re- 
curring motives,  which  interest,  but  which  do  not  dis- 
tract the  mind,  are  evidently  the  best.  The  ancient  in- 
habitants of  Minorca  were  said  to  be  the  best  slingers  in 
the  world  ;  when  they  were  children,  every  morning 
what  they  were  to  eat  was  slightly  suspended  from  high 
poles,  and  they  were  obliged  to  throw  down  their  break- 
fasts with  their  slings  from  the  places  where  they  were 
suspended,  before  they  could  satisfy  their  hunger.  The 
motive  seems  to  have  been  here  well  proportioned  to 
the  effect  which  was  required  ;  it  could  not  be  any  great 
misfortune  to  a  boy  to  go  without  his  breakfast ;  but  as 
this  motive  returned  every  morning,  it  became  suffi- 
ciently serious  to  the  hungry  slingers. 

It  is  impossible  to  explain  this  subject  so  as  to  be  of 
use,  without  descending  to  minute  particulars.  When 
a  mother  says  to  her  little  daughter,  as  she  places  on 
the  table  before  her  a  bunch  of  ripe  cherries,  "  Tell  me, 
my  dear,  how  many  cherries  are  there,  and  I  will  give 
them  to  you," — the  child's  attention  is  fixed  instantly  ; 
there  is  a  sufficient  motive;  not  a  motive  which  excites 
any  violent  passions,  but  which  raises  just  such  a  de- 
gree of  hope  as  is  necessary  to  produce  attention.  The 
little  girl,  if  she  knows  from  experience  that  her  mother's 
promise  will  be  kept,  and  that  her  own  patience  is  likely 
to  succeed,  counts  the  cherries  carefully,  has  her  re- 


\TTfcNTloN.  73 

ward,  and  upon  the  next  similar  trial  she  will,  from  this 
success,  be  stiU  more  disposed  to  exert  her  attention. 
The  pleasure  of  eating  cherries,  associated  with  the 
pleasure  of  success,  will  balance  the  pain  of  a  few  mo- 
ments' prolonged  application,  and  by  degrees  the  cher- 
ries may  be  withdrawn,  the  association  of  pleasure  will 
remain.  Objects  or  thoughts  that  have  been  associated 
with  pleasure,  retain  tha  power  of  pleasing;  as  the 
needle  touched  by  the  loadstone  acquires  polarity,  and 
retains  it  long  after  the  loadstone  is  withdrawn. 

Whenever  attention  is  habitually  raised  by  the  power 
of  association,  we  should  be  careful  to  withdraw  all  the 
excitements  that  were  originally  used,  because  these 
are  now  unnecessary ;  and,  as  we  have  formerly  ob- 
served, the  steady  rule,  with  respect  to  stimulus,  should 
be  to  give  the  least  possible  quantity  that  will  produce 
the  effect  we  want.  Success  is  a  great  pleasure  ;  as 
soon  as  children  become  sensible  to  this  pleasure,  that 
is  to  say,  when  they  have  tasted  it  two  or  three  times, 
they  will  exert  their  attention  merely  with  the  hope  of 
succeeding.  We  have  seen  a  little  boy  of  three  years 
old,  frowning  with  attention  for  several  minutes  to- 
gether, while  he  was  trying  to  clasp  and  unclasp  a  lady's 
bracelet ;  his  whole  soul  was  intent  upon  the  business  ; 
he  neither  saw  nor  heard  any  thing  else  that  passed  in  the 
room,  though  several  people  were  talking,  and  some  hap- 
pened to  be  looking  at  him.  The  pleasure  of  success, 
when  he  clasped  the  bracelet,  was  quite  sufficient ;  he 
looked  for  no  praise,  though  he  was  perhaps  pleased 
with  the  sympathy  that  was  shown  in  his  success. 
Sympathy  is  a  better  reward  for  young  children  in  such 
circumstances  than  praise,  because  it  does  not  excite 
vanity,  and  it  is  connected  with  benevolent  feelings  ; 
besides,  it  is  not  so  violent  a  stimulus  as  applause. 

Instead  of  increasing  excitements  to  produce  atten- 
tion, we  may  vary  them,  which  will  have  just  the  same 
effect.  When  sympathy  fails,  try  curiosity  ;  when  cu- 
riosity fails,  try  praise  ;  when  praise  begins  to  lose  its 
effect,  try  blame  ;  and  when  you  go  back  again  to  sym- 
pathy, you  will  find  that,  after  this  interval,  it  will  have 
recovered  all  its  original  power.  Doctor  Darwin,  who 
has  the  happy  art  of  illustrating,  from  the  most  familiar 
circumstances  in  real  life,  the  abstract  theories  of  philos- 
ophy, gives  us  the  following  picturesque  instance  of  the 
use  of  varying  motives  to  prolong  exertion. 


74  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

"  A  little  boy,  who  was  tired  of  walking,  begged  of  hia 
papa  to  carry  him.  *  Here,'  says  the  reverend  doctor, 
*  ride  upon  my  gold-headed  cane ;'  and  the  pleased 
child,  putting  it  between  his  legs,  galloped  away  with 
delight.  Here  the  aid  of  another  sensorial  power,  that 
of  pleasurable  sensation,  superadded  power  to  exhausted 
volition,  which  could  otherwise  only  have  been  excited 
by  additional  pain,  as  by  the  lash  of  slavery."* 

Alexander  the  Great  one  day  saw  a  poor  man  carry- 
ing upon  his  shoulders  a  heavy  load  of  silver  for  the 
royal  camp:  the  man  tottered  under  his  burden,  and  was 
ready  to  give  up  the  point  from  fatigue.  "  Hold  on, 
friend,  the  rest  of  the  way,  and  carry  it  to  your  own 
tent,  for  it  is  yours,"  said  Alexander. 

There  are  some  people  who  have  the  power  of  ex- 
citing others  to  great  mental  exertions  ;  not  by  the 
promise  of  specific  rewards,  or  by  the  threats  of  any 
punishment,  but  by  the  ardent  ambition  which  they  in- 
spire ;  by  the  high  value  which  is  set  upon  their  love  and 
esteem.  When  we  have  formed  a  high  opinion  of  a 
friend,  his  approbation  becomes  necessary  to  our  own 
self-complacency,  and  we  think  no  labour  loo  great  to 
satisfy  our  attachment.  .  Our  exertions  are  not  fatiguing 
because  they  are  associated  with  all  the  pleasurable  sen- 
sations of  affection,  self-complacency,  benevolence,  and 
liberty.  These  feelings,  in  youth,  produce  all  the  vir- 
tuous enthusiasm  characteristic  of  great  minds ;  even 
childhood  is  capable  of  it  in  some  degree,  as  those  pa- 
rents well  know  who  have  ever  enjoyed  the  attachment 
of  a  grateful,  affectionate  child.  Those  who  neglect  to 
cultivate  the  affections  of  their  pupils,  will  never  be  able 
to  excite  them  to  "noble  ends"  by  "noble  means." 
Theirs  will  be  the  dominion  of  fear,  from  which  reason 
will  emancipate  herself,  and  from  which  pride  will  yet 
more  certainly  revolt. 

If  Henry  the  Fourth  of  France  had  been  reduced,  like 
Dionysius  the  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  to  earn  his  bread  as  a 
schoolmaster,  what  a  different  preceptor  he  would  prob- 
ably have  made !  Dionysius  must  have  been  hated  by 
his  scholars  as  much  as  by  his  subjects ;  for  it  is  said  that 
"hef  practised  upon  children  that  tyranny  which  he 
could  no  longer  exercise  over  men." 

The  embassador  who  found  Henry  the  Fourth  playing 

*  Zoonomiar  vol.  i.  page  435.  t  Cicero. 


ATTENTION.  75 

upon  the  carpet  with  his  children,  would  probably  have 
trusted  his  own  children,  if  he  had  any,  to  the  care  of 
such  an  affectionate  tutor. 

Henry  the  Fourth  would  have  attached  his  pupils 
while  he  instructed  them ;  they  would  have  exerted 
themselves,  because  they  could  not  have  been  happy 
without  his  esteem.  Henry's  courtiers,  or  rather  his 
friends,  for  though  he  was  a  king  he  had  friends,  some- 
times expressed  surprise  at  their  own  disinterestedness  : 
"  This  king  pays  us  with  words,"  said  they,  "  and  yet 
we  are  satisfied !"  Sully,  when  he  was  only  Baron  de 
Rosny,  and  before  he  had  any  hopes  of  being  a  duke, 
was  once  in  a  passion  with  the  king  his  master,  and 
half  resolved  to  leave  him  :  "  But  I  don't  know  how  it 
was,"  says  the  honest  minister ;  "  with  all  his  faults, 
there  is  something  about  Henry  which  I  found  I  could 
not  leave  ;  and  when  I  met  him  again,  a  few  words  made 
me  forget  all  my  causes  of  discontent." 

Children  are  more  easily  attached  than  courtiers,  and 
full  as  easily  rewarded.  When  once  this  generous  de- 
sire of  affection  and  esteem  is  raised  in  the  mind,  their 
exertions  seem  to  be  universal  and  spontaneous :  chil- 
dren are  then  no  longer  like  machines,  which  require  to 
be  wound  up  regularly  to  perform  certain  revolutions  ; 
they  are  animated  with  a  living  principle,  which  directs 
all  that  it  inspires. 

We  have  endeavoured  to  point  out  the  general  excite- 
ments and  the  general  precautions  to  be  used  in  cul- 
tivating the  power  of  attention ;  it  maybe  expected  that 
we  should  more  particularly  apply  these  to  the  charac- 
ters of  different  pupils.  We  shall  not  here  examine 
whether  there  be  any  original  difference  of  character  or 
intellect,  because  this  would  lead  into  a  wide  theoretical 
discussion  ;  a  difference  in  the  temper  and  talents  of 
children  early  appears,  and  some  practical  remarks  may 
be  of  service  to  correct  defects,  or  to  improve  abilities, 
whether  we  suppose  them  to  be  natural  or  acquired. 
The  first  differences  which  a  preceptor  observes  between 
his  pupils,  when  he  begins  to  teach  them,  are  perhaps 
scarcely  marked  so  strongly  as  to  strike  the  careless 
spectator ;  but  in  a  few  years  these  varieties  are  appa- 
rent to  every  eye.  This  seems  to  prove,  that  during  the 
interval  the  power  of  education  has  operated  strongly  to 
increase  the  original  propensities.  The  quick  and  slow, 
the  timid  and  presumptuous,  should  be  early  instructed 
D2 


76  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

so  as  to  correct   as    much  as  possible   their   several 
defects. 

The  manner  in  which  children  are  first  instructed  must 
tend  either  to  increase  or  diminish  their  timidity  or  their 
confidence  in  themselves  ;  to  encourage  them  to  under- 
take great  things,  or  to  rest  content  with  limited  ac- 
quirements. Young  people,  who  have  found  from  ex- 
perience that  they  cannot  remember  or  understand  one 
half  of  what  is  forced  upon  their  attention,  become  ex- 
tremely diffident  of  their  own  capacity,  and  they  will 
not  undertake  as  much  even  as  they  are  able  to  perform. 
With  timid  tempers,  we  should  therefore  begin,  by  ex- 
pecting but  little  from  each  effort ;  but  whatever  is  at- 
tempted, should  be  certainly  within  their  attainment ; 
success  will  encourage  the  most  stupid  humility.  It 
should  be  carefully  pointed  out  to  diffident  children,  that 
attentive  patience  can  do  as  much  as  quickness  of  intel- 
lect. If  they  perceive  that  time  makes  all  the  differ- 
ence between  the  quick  and  the  slow,  they  will  be  in- 
duced to  persevere.  The  transition  of  attention  from 
one  subject  to  another  is  difficult  to  some  children,  to 
others  it  is  easy.  If  all  be  expected  to  do  the  same 
things  in  an  equal  period  of  time,  the  slow  will  abso- 
lutely give  up  the  competition ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  if 
they  are  allowed  time,  they  will  accomplish  their  pur- 
poses. We  have  been  confirmed  in  our  belief  of  this  doc- 
trine by  experiments.  The  same  problems  have  been 
frequently  given  to  children  of  different  degrees  of  quick- 
ness ;  and  though  some  succeeded  much  more  quickly 
than  others,  all  the  individuals  in  the  family  have  perse- 
vered till  they  have  solved  the  questions  ;  and  the  timid 
seem  to  have  been  more  encouraged  by  this  practical 
demonstration  of  the  infallibility  of  persevering  atten- 
tion, than  by  any  other  methods  which  have  been  tried. 
When,  after  a  number  of  small  successful  trials,  they 
have  acquired  some  share  of  confidence  in  themselves, 
when  they  are  certain  of  the  possibility  of  their  per- 
forming any  given  operations,  we  may  then  press  them 
a  little  as  to  velocity.  When  they  are  well  acquainted 
with  any  set  of  ideas,  we  may  urge  them  to  quick  transi- 
tion of  attention  from  one  to  another ;  but  if  we  insist 
upon  this  rapidity  of  transition  before  they  are  thor- 
oughly acquainted  with  each  idea  in  the  assemblage,  we 
shall  only  increase  their  timidity  and  hesitation ;  we 
shall  confound  their  understandings,  and  depress  their 
ambition. 


ATTKNT10N.  77 

It  is  of  consequence  to  distinguish  between  slow  and 
sluggish  attention.  Sometimes  children  appear  stupid 
and  heavy,  when  they  are  absolutely  exhausted  by  too 
great  efforts  of  attention ;  at  other  times,  they  have 
something  like  the  same  dulness  of  aspect,  before  they 
have  had  any  thing  to  fatigue  them,  merely  from  their 
not  having  yet  awakened  themselves  to  business.  We 
must  be  certain  of  our  pupil's  state  of  mind  before  we 
proceed.  If  he  be  incapacitated  from  fatigue,  let  him 
rest ;  if  he  be  torpid,  rouse  him  with  a  rattling  peal  of 
thunder :  but  be  sure  that  you  have  not,  as  it  has  been 
said  of  Jupiter,*  recourse  to  your  thunder  only  when 
you  are  in  the  wrong.  Some  preceptors  scold  when 
they  cannot  explain,  and  grow  angry  in  proportion  to 
the  fatigue  they  see  expressed  in  the  countenance  of 
their  unhappy  pupils.  If  a  timid  child  foresees  that  an 
explanation  will  probably  end  in  a  philipic,  he  cannot  fix 
his  attention ;  he  is  anticipating  the  evil  of  your  anger, 
instead  of  listening  to  your  demonstrations;  and  he 
says,  "Yes,  yes,  I  see,  I  know,  I  understand,"  with 
trembling  eagerness,  while,  through  the  mist  and  con- 
fusion of  his  fears,  he  can  scarcely  see  or  hear,  much 
less  understand  any  thing.  If  you  mistake  the  confusion 
and  fatigue  of  terror  for  inattention  or  indolence,  and 
press  your  pupil  to  further  exertions,  you  will  confirm, 
instead  of  curing,  his  stupidity.  You  must  diminish  his 
fear  before  you  can  increase  his  attention.  With  chil- 
dren who  are  thus, 'from  timid  anxiety  to  please,  dis- 
posed to  exert  their  faculties  too  much,  it  is  obvious 
that  no  excitation  should  be  used ;  but  every  playful, 
every  affectionate  means  should  be  employed  to  dissi- 
pate their  apprehensions. 

It  is  more  difficult  to  manage  with  those  who  have 
sluggish,  than  with  those  who  have  timid  attention. 
Indolent  children  have  not  usually  so  lively  a  taste  for 
pleasure  as  others  have  ;  they  do  not  seem  to  hear  or 
see  so  quickly ;  they  are  content  with  a  little  enjoy- 
ment ;  they  have  scarcely  any  ambition ;  they  seem  to 
prefer  ease  to  all  sorts  of  glory  ;  they  have  little  volun- 
tary exertion;  and  the  pain  of  attention  is  to  them  so 
great,  that  they  would  preferably  endure  the  pain  of 
shame,  and  of  all  the  accumulated  punishments  which 
are  commonly  devised  for  them  by  the  vengeance  of 

*  Lucian,    ' 


78  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

their  exasperated  tutors.  Locke  notices  this  listless, 
lazy  humour  in  children  ;  he  classes  it  under  the  head 
"  Sauntering;"  and  he  divides  saunterers  into  two  spe- 
cies :  those  who  saunter  only  at  their  books  and  tasks, 
and  those  who  saunter  at  play  and  every  thing.  The 
book-saunterers  have  only  an  acute,  the  others  have  a 
chronic  disease  ;  the  one  is  easily  cured,  the  other  dis- 
ease will  cost  more  time  and  pains. 

If,  by  some  unlucky  management,  a  vivacious  child 
acquire  a  dislike  to  literary  application,  he  may  appear 
at  his  books  with  all  the  stupid  apathy  of  a  dunce.  In 
this  state  of  literary  dereliction,  we  should  not  force 
books  and  tasks  of  any  sort  upon  him  ;  we  should  rather 
watch  him  when  he  is  eager  at  amusements  of  his  own 
selection,  observe  to  what  his  attention  turns,  and  culti- 
vate his  attention  upon  that  subject,  whatever  it  may 
be.  He  may  be  led  to  think,  and  to  acquire  knowledge 
upon  a  variety  of  subjects,  without  sitting  down  to  read ; 
and  thus  he  may  form  habits  of  attention  and  applica- 
tion, which  will  be  associated  with  pleasure.  When  he 
returns  to  books,  he  will  find  that  he  understands  a 


As  long  as  a  child  shows  energy  upon  any  occasion, 
there  is  hope.  If  he  "lend  his  little  soul"*  to  whipping 
a  top,  there  is  no  danger  of  his  being  a  dunce.  When 
Alcibiades  was  a  child,  he  was  one-day  playing  at  dice 
with  other  boys  in  the  street ;  a  loaded  wagon  came  up 
just  as  it  was  his  time  to  throw.  At  first  he  called  to 
the  driver  to  stop,  but  the  wagoner  would  not  stop  his 
horses ;  all  the  boys,  except  Alcibiades,  ran  away ;  but 
Alcibiades  threw  himself  upon  his  face,  directly  before 
the  horses,  and  stretching  himself  out,  bid  the  wagoner 
drive  on  if  he  pleased.  Perhaps,  at  the  time  when  he 
showed  this  energy  about  a  game  at  dice,  Alcibiades 
might  have  been  a  saunterer  at  his  book,  and  a  foolish 
schoolmaster  might  have  made  him  a  dunce. 

Locke  advises,  that  children  who  are  too  much  ad- 
dicted to  what  is  called  play,  should  be  surfeited  with  it, 
that  they  may  return  to  business  with  a  better  appetite. 
But  this  advice  supposes  that  play  has  been  previously 
interdicted,  or  that  it  is  something  pernicious :  we  have 

*  "  And  lends  his  little  soul  at  every  stroke." — VIRGIL. 


ATTKNTION.  79 

endeavoured  to  show  that  play  is  nothing  but  a  change 
of  employ  rnent,  and  that  the  attention  may  be  exercised 
advantageously  upon  a  variety  of  subjects  which  are  not 
called  Tasks.* 

With  those  who  show  chronic  listlessness,  Locke  ad- 
vises that  we  should  use  every  sort  of  stimulus  ;  praise, 
amusement,  fine  clothes,  eating;  any  thing  that  will 
make  them  bestir  themselves.  He  argues,  that  as  there 
appears  a  deficiency  of  \igour,  we  have  no  reason  to 
fear  excess  of  appetite  for  any  of  these  things;  nay, 
further  still,  where  none  of  these  will  act,  he  advises 
compulsory  bodily  exercise.  If  we  cannot,  he  says, 
make  sure  of  the  invisible  attention  of  the  mind,  we  may 
at  least  get  something  done,  prevent  the  habit  of  total 
idleness,  and  perhaps  make  the  children  desire  to  ex- 
change labour  of  body  for  labour  of  mind.  These  expe- 
dients will,  we  fear,  be  found  rather  palliative  than  ef- 
fectual;  if,  by  forcing  children  to  bodily  exercise,  that 
become  disagreeable,  they  may  prefer  labour  of  the 
mind  ;  but  in  making  this  exchange  or  bargain,  they  are 
sensible  that  they  choose  the  least  of  two  evils.  The 
evil  of  application  is  diminished  only  by  comparison  in 
their  estimation;  they  will  avoid  it  whenever  they  are 
at  liberty.  The  love  of  eating,  of  fine  clothes,  &c.,  if 
they  stimulate  a  slothful  child,  must  be  the  ultimate  ob- 
ject of  his  exertions  ;  he  will  consider  the  performance 
of  his  task  merely  as  a  painful  condition  on  his  part. 
Still  the  association  of  pain  with  literature  continues  ; 
it  is  then  impossible  that  he  should  love  it.  There  is  no 
active  principle  within  him,  no  desire  for  knowledge 
excited  ;  his  attention  is  forced  ;  it  ceases  the  moment 
the  external  force  is  withdrawn.  He  drudges  to  earn 
his  cream-bowl  duly  set,  but  he  will  stretch  his  lubber 
length  the  moment  his  task  is  done. 

There  is  another  class  of  children  opposed  to  saun- 
terers,  whom  we  may  denominate  volatile  geniuses. 
They  show  a  vast  deal  of  quickness  and  vivacity  ;  they 
understand  almost  before  a  tutor  can  put  his  ideas  into 
words  ;  they  observe  a  variety  of  objects,  but  they  do 
not  connect  their  observations ;  and  the  very  rapidity 
with  which  they  seize  an  explanation,  prevents  them 
from  thoroughly  comprehending  it ;  they  are  easily  dis- 
turbed by  external  objects  when  they  are  thinking  As 

*  See  Chapter  II.  on  Tasks. 


80  PRACTICAL     KDIJCATION. 

they  have  great  sensibility,  their  associations  are  strong 
and  various  ;  their  thoughts  branch  off  into  a  thousand 
beautiful,  but  useless  ramifications.  While  you  are  at- 
tempting to  instruct  them  upon  one  subject,  they  are 
inventing,  perhaps,  upon  another ;  or  they  are  following 
a  train  of  ideas  suggested  by  something  you  have  said, 
but  foreign  to  your  business.  They  are  more  pleased 
with  the  discovery  of  resemblances,  than  with  discrim- 
ination of  difference  ;  the  one  costs  them  more  time  and 
attention  than  the  other:  they  are  apt  to  say  witty 
things,  and  to  strike  out  sparks  of  invention  ;  but  they 
have  not  commonly  the  patience  to  form  exact  judg- 
ments, or  to  bring  their  first  inventions  to  perfection. 
When  they  begin  the  race,  everybody  expects  that  they 
should  outstrip  all  competitors  ;  but  it  is  often  seen  that 
slower  rivals  reach  the  goal  before  them.  The  predic- 
tions formed  of  pupils  of  this  temperament  vary  much, 
according  to  the  characters  of  their  tutors.  A  slow 
man  is  provoked  by  their  dissipated  vivacity,  and,  unable 
to  catch  or  fix  their  attention,  prognosticates  that  they 
will  never  have  sufficient  application  to  learn  any  thing. 
This  prophecy,  under  certain  tuition,  would  probably 
be  accomplished.  The  want  of  sympathy  between  a 
slow  tutor  and  a  quick  child,  is  a  great  disadvantage  to 
both  ;  each  insists  upon  going  his  own  pace  and  his  own 
way,  and  these  ways  are  perhaps  diametrically  oppo 
site.  Even  in  forming  a  judgment  of  the  child's  atten- 
tion, the  tutor,  who  is  not  acquainted  with  the  manner 
in  which  his  pupil  goes  to  work,  is  liable  to  frequent 
mistakes.  Children  are  sometimes  suspected  of  not 
having  listened  to  what  has  been  said  to  them,  when 
they  cannot  exactly  repeat  the  words  that  they  have 
heard ;  they  often  ask  questions  and  make  observations 
which  seem  quite  foreign  to  the  present  business ;  but 
this  is  not  always  a  proof  that  their  minds  are  absent,  or 
that  their  attention  is  dissipated.  Their  answers  often 
appear  to  be  far  from  the  point,  because  they  suppress 
their  intermediate  ideas,  and  give  only  the  result  of  their 
thoughts.  This  may  be  inconvenient  to  those  who 
teach  them  ;  but  this  habit  sufficiently  proves  that  these 
children  are  not  deficient  in  attention.  To  cure  them 
of  the  fault  which  they  have,  we  should  not  accuse 
them  falsely  of  another.  But  it  may  be  questioned 
whether  this  be  a  fault :  it  is  absolutely  necessary,  in 
many  processes  of  the  mind,  to  suppress  a  number  of 


ATTENTION.  81 

intermediate  ideas.  Life,  if  this  were  not  practised, 
would  be  too  short  for  those  who  think,  and  much  too 
short  for  those  who  speak.  When  somebody  asked 
Pyrrhus  which  of  two  musicians  he  liked  the  best,  he 
answered,  "  Polysperchon  is  the  best  general."  This 
would  appear  to  be  the  absurd  answer  of  an  absent 
person,  or  of  a  fool,  if  we  did  not  consider  the  ideas  that 
are  implied,  as  well  as  those  which  are  expressed. 

March  5th,  1796.  To-day,  at  dinner,  a  lady  observed 
that  Nicholson,  Williamson,  Jackson,  &c.,  were  names 
which  originally  meant  the  sons  of  Nicholas,  William, 

Jack,  &c.  A  boy  who  was  present,  H ,  added,  with 

a  very  grave  face,  as  soon  as  she  had  finished  speaking, 
"  Yes,  ma'am,  Tydides."  His  mother  asked  him  what 

he  could  mean  by  this  absent  speech  ?  H calmly 

repeated,  "  Ma'am,  yes  ;  because  I  think  it  is  like  Ty- 
dides."  His  brother  S eagerly  interposed,  to  sup- 
ply the  intermediate  ideas;  "Yes,  indeed,  mother," 

cried  he,  "  H is  not  absent,  because  dez,  in  Greek, 

means  the  son  of  (the  race  of).  Tydides  is  the  son  of 
Tydeus,  as  Jackson  is  the  son  of  Jack."  In  this  in- 
stance, H was  not  absent,  though  he. did  not  make 

use  of  a  sufficient  number  of  words  to  explain  his  ideas. 

August,  1796,  L ,  when  he  returned  home,  after 

some  months'  absence,  entertained  his  brothers  and  sis- 
ters with  a  new  play,  which  he  had  learned  at  Edin- 
burgh. He  told  them,  that  when  he  struck  the  table 
with  his  hand,  every  person  present  was  instantane- 
ously to  remain  fixed  in  the  attitudes  in  which  they 
should  be  when  the  blow  was  given.  The  attitudes  in 
which  some  of  the  little  company  were  fixed,  occasioned 
much  diversion  ;  but  in  speaking  of  this  new  play  after- 
ward, they  had  no  name  for  it.  While  they  were  think- 
ing of  a  name  for  it,  H exclaimed,  "  The  Gorgon  !" 

It  was  immediately  agreed  that  this  was  a  good  name 
for  the  play  ;  and  H ,  upon  this  occasion,  was  per- 
fectly intelligible,  without  expressing  all  the  interme- 
diate ideas. 

Good  judges  form  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  abilities 
of  those  who  converse  with  them,  by  what  they  omit, 
as  well  as  by  what  they  say.  If  any  one  can  show  that 
he  also  has  been  in  Arcadia,  he  is  sure  of  being  well 
received,  without  producing  minutes  of  his  journey.  In 
the  same  manner  we  should  judge  of  children  ;  if  they 
arrive  at  certain  conclusions  in  reasoning,  we  may  be 
D3 


82  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

satisfied  that  they  have  taken  all  the  necessary  previous 
steps.  We  need  not  question  their  attention  upon  sub- 
iects  where  they  give  proofs  of  invention ;  they  must 
have  remembered  well,  or  they  could  not  invent ;  they 
must  have  attended  well,  or  they  could  not  have  remem- 
bered.  Nothing  wearies  a  quick  child  more  than  to  be 
forced  slowly  to  retrace  his  own  thoughts,  -and  to  repeat 
the  words  of  a  discourse  to  prove  that  IK  has  listened 
to  it.  A  tutor  who  is  slow  in  understanding  the  ideas 
of  his  vivacious  pupil,  gives  him  so  much  trouble  and 
pain,  that  he  grows  silent,  from  finding  it  not  worth 
\vlnlr  to  speak.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  children  ap- 
pear stupid  and  silent  with  some  people,  and  sprightly 
and  talkative  with  others.  Those  who  hope  to  talk  to 
children  with  any  effect,  must,  as  Rousseau  observes,  be 
able  to  hear  as  well  as  to  speak.  M.  de  Segrais,  who 
was  deaf,  was  much  in  the  right  to  decline  being  pre- 
ceptor to  the  Duke  de  Maine.  A  deaf  preceptor  would 
certainly  make  a  child  dumb. 

To  win  the  attention  of  vivacious  children,  we  must 
sometimes  follow  them  in  their  zigzag  course,  and  even 
press  them  to  the  end  of  their  own  train  of  thought. 
They  will  be  content  when  they  have  obtained  a  full 
hearing;  then  they  will  have  leisure  to  discover  that 
what  they  were  in  such  haste  to  utter,  was  not  so  well 
north  saying  as  they  imagined  ;  that  their  bright  ideas 
often,  when  steadily  examined  by  themselves,  fade  into 
absurdities. 

"  Where  does  this  pvith  lead  to  1  Can't  we  get  over 
this  stile  ?  May  I  only  go  into  this  wood  1"  exclaims  an 
active  child,  when  he  is  taken  out  to  walk.  Every  path 
appears  more  delightful  than  the  straight  road  ;  but  let 
him  try  the  paths,  they  will  perhaps  end  in  disappoint- 
ment, and  then  his  imagination  will  be  corrected.  Let 
him  try  his  own  experiments,  then  he  will  be  ready  to 
try  yours;  and  it"  yours  succeed  better  than  his  own, 
you  will  secure  his  confidence.  After  a  child  has  talked 
on  for  some  time,  till  he  comes  to  the  end  of  his  ideas, 
then  he  will  perhaps  listen  to  what  you  have  to  say ; 
and  if  he  finds  it  better  than  what  he  has  been  saying 
himself,  he  will  voluntarily  give  you  his  attention  the 
next  time  you  begin  to  speak. 

Vivacious  children  are  peculiarly  susceptible  of  blame 
and  praise ;  we  have,  therefore,  great  power  over  their 
attachment,  if  we  manage  these  excitements  properly. 


ATTENTION.  83 

These  children  should  not  be  praised  for  their  happy  hits ; 
their  first*  glances  .should  not  be  extolled ;  but,  on  the 
contrary,  they  should  be  rewarded  with  universal  ap- 
probation when  they  give  proofs  of  patient  industry, 
when  they  bring  any  thing  to  perfection.  No  one  can 
bring  any  thing  to  perfection  without  long-continued 
attention;  and  industry  and  perseverance  presuppose 
attention.  Proofs  of  any  of  these  qualities  may  there- 
fore satisfy  us  as  to  the  pupil's  capacity  and  habits  of 
attention ;  we  need  not  stand  by  to  see  the  attention 
exercised  ;  the  things  produced  are  sufficient  evidence. 
Buffon  tells  us  that  he  wrote  his  Epoques  de  la  Nature 
over  eighteen  times  before  he  could  perfect  it  to  his 
taste.  The  high  finish  of  his  composition  is  sufficient 
evidence  to  intelligent  readers,  that  he  exerted  long- 
continued  attention  upon  the  work ;  they  do  not  require 
to  have  the  eighteen  copies  produced. 

Bacon  supposes,  that  for  every  disease  of  the  mind, 
specific  remedies  might  be  found  in  appropriate  studies 
and  exercises.  Thus,  for  "  birdwitted"  children  he  pre- 
scribes the  study  of  mathematics,  because,  in  mathemat- 
ical studies,  the  attention  must  be  fixed ;  the  least  inter- 
mission of  thought  breaks  the  whole  chain  of  reasoning, 
their  labour  is  lost,  and  they  must  begin  their  demon- 
stration again.  This  principle  is  excellent ;  but  to  ap- 
ply it  advantageously,  we  should  choose  moments  when 
a  mathematical  demonstration  is  interesting  to  children, 
else  we  have  not  sufficient  motive  to  excite  them  to 
commence  the  demonstration;  they  will  perceive  that 
they  lose  all  their  labour  if  their  attention  is  interrupted  ; 
but  how  shall  we  make  them  begin  to  attend  ?  There 
are  a  variety  of  subjects  which  are  interesting  to  chil- 
dren, to  which  we  may  apply  Bacon's  principle ;  for  in- 
stance, a  child  is  eager  to  hear  a  story  which  you  are 
going  to  tell  him ;  you  may  exercise  his  attention  by 
your  manner  of  telling  this  story ;  you  may  employ  with 
advantage  the  beautiful  speech  called  suspension:  but 
you  must  take  care,  that  the  hope  which  is  long  de- 
ferred be  at  last  gratified.  The  young  critics  will  look 
back,  when  your  story  is  finished,  and  will  examine 
whether  their  attention  has  been  wasted,  or  whether  all 
the  particulars  to  which  it  was  directed  were  essential. 
Though  in  amusing  stories  we  recommend  the  figure 

*  Apercues. 


84  PRACTICAL     EDUCATION. 

called  suspension,*  we  do  not  recommend  its  use  in  ex- 
planations. Our  explanations  should  be  put  into  as  few 
words  as  possible :  the  closer  the  connexion  of  ideas, 
the  better.  When  we  say,  allow  time  to  understand 
your  explanations,  we  mean,  allow  time  between  each 
idea  ;  do  not  fill  up  the  interval  with  words.  Never,  by 
way  of  gaining  time,  pay  in  sixpences ;  this  is  the  last 
resource  of  a  bankrupt. 

We  formerly  observed  that  a  preceptor,  in  his  first 
lessons  on  any  new  subject,  must  submit  to  the  drudg- 
ery of  repeating  his  terms  and  his  reasoning,  until  these 
are  sufficiently  familiar  to  his  pupils.  He  must,  how- 
ever, proportion  the  number  of  his  repetitions  to  the 
temper  and  habits  of  his  pupils,  else  he  will  weary,  in- 
stead of  strengthening  the  attention.  When  a  thing  is 
clear,  let  him  never  try  to  make  it  clearer;  when  a 
thing  is  understood,  not  a  word  more  of  exemplification 
should  be  added.  To  mark  precisely  the  moment  when 
the  pupil  understands  what  is  said,  the  moment  when 
he  is  master  of  the  necessary  ideas,  and,  consequently, 
the  moment  when  repetition  should  cease,  is,  perhaps, 
the  most  difficult  thing  in  the  art  of  teaching.  The 
countenance,  the  eye,  the  voice,  and  manner  of  the  pu- 
pil, mark  this  instant  to  an  observing  preceptor ;  but  a 
preceptor  who  is  absorbed  in  his  own  ideas,  will  never 
think  of  looking  in  his  pupil's  face  ;  he  will  go  on  with 
his  routine  of  explanation,  while  his  once  lively,  atten- 
tive pupil,  exhibits  opposite  to  him  the  picture  of  stupi- 
fied  fatigue.  Quick,  intelligent  children,  who  have  fre- 
quently found  that  lessons  are  reiterated  by  a  patient 
but  injudicious  tutor,  will  learn  a  careless  mode  of  lis- 
tening at  intervals;  they  will  say  to  themselves,  "  Oh,  I 
shall  hear  this  again  !"  And  if  any  stray  thought  comes 
across  their  minds,  they  will  not  scruple  to  amuse  them- 
selves, and  will  afterward  ask  for  a  repetition  of  the 
words  or  ideas  which  they  missed  during  this  excursion 
of  fancy.  When  they  hear  the  warning  advertisement 
of  "  certainly  for  the  last  time  this  season,"  they  will 
deem  it  time  enough  to  attend  to  the  performance.  To 
cure  them  of  this  presumption  in  favour  of  our  patience, 
and  of  their  own  superlative  quickness,  we  should  press 
that  quickness  to  its  utmost  speed.  Whenever  we  call 
for  their  attention,  let  it  be  on  subjects  highly  interest- 

*  Deinology. 


ATTENTION.  85 

ing  or  amusing;  and  let  ijs  give  them  but  just  sufficient 
time  with  their  fullest  exertion  to  catch  our  words  and 
ideas.  As  these  quick  gentlemen  are  proud  of  their 
rapidity  of  apprehension,  this  method  will  probably  se- 
cure their  attention  ;  they  will  dread  the  disgrace  of  not 
understanding  what  is  said,  and  they  will  feel  that  they 
cannot  understand  unless  they  exert  prompt,  vigorous, 
unremitted  attention. 

The  Dutchess  of  Kingston  used  to  complain  that  she 
could  never  acquire  any  knowledge,  because  she  never 
could  meet  with  anybody  who  could  teach  her  any 
thing  "  in  two  words."  Her  grace  felt  the  same  sort 
of  impatience  which  was  expressed  by  the  tyrant  who 
expected  to  find  a  royal  road  to  geometry. 

Those  who  believe  themselves  endowed  with  genius, 
expect  to  find  a  royal  road  in  every  science,  shorter 
and  less  laborious  than  the  beaten  paths  of  industry. 
Their  expectations  are  usually  in  proportion  to  their 
ignorance  ;  they  see  to  the  summit  only  of  one  hill,  and 
they  do  not  suspect  the  Alps  that  will  arise  as  they  ad- 
vance:  but  as  children  become  less  presumptuous,  as 
they  acquire  more  knowledge,  we  may  bear  with  their 
juvenile  impatience,  while  we  take  measures  to  enlarge 
continually  their  sphere  of  information.  We  should  not, 
however,  humour  the  attention  of  young  people,  by 
teaching  them  always  in  the  mode  which  we  know  suits 
their  temper  best.  Vivacious  pupils  should,  from  time  to 
time,  be  accustomed  to  an  exact  enumeration  of  par- 
ticulars ;  and  we  should  take  opportunities  to  convince 
them,  that  an  orderly  connexion  of  proofs,  and  a  minute 
observation  of  apparent  trifles,  are  requisite  to  produce 
the  lively  descriptions,  great  discoveries,  and  happy  in- 
ventions, which  pupils  of  this  disposition  are  ever  prone 
to  admire  with  enthusiasm.  They  will  learn  not  to  pass 
over  old  things,  when  they  perceive  that  these  may  lead 
to  something  new ;  and  they  will  even  submit  to  sober 
attention,  when  they  feel  that  this  is  necessary  even  to 
the  rapidity  of  genius.  In  the  "  Curiosities  of  Litera- 
ture," there  has  been  judiciously  preserved  a  curious 
instance  of  literary  patience ;  the  rough  draught  of  that 
beautiful  passage  in  Pope's  translation  of  the  Iliad 
which  describes  the  parting  of  Hector  and  Andromache. 
The  lines  are  in  Pope's  handwriting,  and  his  numerous 
corrections  appear  ;  the  lines  which  seem  to  the  reader 
to  have  been  struck  off  at  a  single  happy  stroke,  are 
8 


86  PRACTICAL     EDUCATION. 

proved  to  have  been  touched  and  retouched  with  the 
indefatigable  attention  of  a  great  writer.  The  fragment, 
with  all  its  climax  of  corrections,  was  shown  to  a  young 
vivacious  poet  of  nine  years  old,  as  a  practical  lesson,  to 
prove  the  necessity  of  patience  to  arrive  at  perfection. 
Similar  examples,  from  real  life,  should  be  produced  to 
young  people  at  proper  times ;  the  testimony  of  men  of 
acknowledged  abilities,  of  men  whom  they  have  admired 
for  genius,  will  come  with  peculiar  force  in  favour  of 
application.  Parents  well  acquainted  with  literature, 
cannot  be  at  a  loss  to  find  apposite  illustrations.  The 
Life  of  Franklin  is  an  excellent  example  of  persevering 
industry;  the  variations  in  different  editions  of  Vol- 
taire's dramatic  poetry,  and  in  Pope's  works,  are  worth 
examining.  All  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's  eloquent  aca- 
demical discourses  enforce  the  doctrine  of  patience ; 
when  he  wants  to  prove  to  painters  the  value  of  con- 
tinual energetic  attention,  he  quotes  from  Livy  the  char- 
acter of  Philopoemen,  one  of  the  ablest  generals  of 
antiquity.  So  certain  it  is,  that  the  same  principle  per- 
vades all  superior  minds  :  whatever  may  be  their  pur- 
suits, attention  is  the  avowed  primary  cause  of  their 
success.  These  examples  from  the  dead  should  be 
well  supported  by  examples  from  among  the  living. 
In  common  life,  occurrences  can  frequently  be  pointed 
out,  in  which  attention  and  application  are  amply  re- 
warded with  success. 

It  will  encourage  those  who  are  interested  in  educa- 
tion, to  observe,  that  two  of  the  most  difficult  exercises 
of  the  mind  can,  by  practice,  be  rendered  familiar,  even 
by'persons  whom  we  do  not  consider  as  possessed  of 
superior  talents.  Abstraction  and  transition — abstrac- 
tion, the  power  of  withdrawing  the  attention  from  all 
external  objects,  and  concentrating  it  upon  some  par- 
ticular set  of  ideas,  we  admire  as  one  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult exercises  of  the  philosopher.  Abstraction  was  for- 
merly considered  as  such  a  difficult  and  painful  opera- 
tion, that  it  required  perfect  silence  and  solitude ;  many 
ancient  philosophers  quarrelled  with  their  senses,  and 
shut  themselves  up  in  caves,  to  secure  their  attention 
from  the  distraction  caused  by  external  objects.  But 
modern*  philosophers  have  discovered,  that  neither 
caves  nor  lamps  are  essential  to  the  full  and  successful 

*  See  Condillac,  Art  de  Penser. 


ATTENTION.  87 

exercise  of  their  mental  powers.  Persons  of  ordinary 
abilities,  tradesmen  and  shopkeepers,  in  the  midst  of 
the  tumult  of  a  public  city,  in  the  noise  of  rumbling 
carts  and  rattling  carriages,  amid  the  voices  of  a  mul- 
titude of  people  talking  upon  various  subjects,  amid  the 
provoking  interruptions  of  continual  questions  and  an- 
swers, and  in  the  broad  glare  of  a  hot  sun,  can  command 
and  abstract  their  attention  so  far  as  to  calculate  yards, 
ells,  and  nails,  to  cast  up  long  sums  in  addition  right  to 
a  farthing,  and  to  make  out  multifarious  frills  with  quick 
and  unerring  precision.  In  almost  all  the  dining-houses 
at  Vienna,  as  a  late  traveller*  informs  us,  "  a  bill  of  fare 
containing  a  vast  collection  of  dishes  is  written  out,  and 
the  prices  are  affixed  to  each  article.  As  the  people  of 
Vienna  are  fond  of  variety,  the  calculation  at  the  con- 
clusion of  a  repast  would  appear  somewhat  embarras- 
sing ;  this,  however,  is  done  by  mechanical  habit  with 
great  speed  ;  the  custom  is,  for  the  party  who  has  dined 
to  name  the  dishes,  and  the  quantity  of  bread  and  wine. 
The  keller,  who  attends  on  this  occasion,  follows  every 
article  you  name  with  the  sum,  which  this  adds  to  the 
calculation,  and  the  whole  is  performed,  to  whatever 
amount,  without  ink  or  paper.  It  is  curious  to  hear  this 
ceremony,  which  is  muttered  with  great  gravity,  yet 
performed  with  accuracy  and  despatch." 

We  coolly  observe,  when  we  read  these  things,  "  Yes, 
this  is  all  habit  ;  anybody  who  had  used  himself  to  it 
might  do  the  same  things."  Yet  the  very  same  power 
of  abstracting  the  attention,  when  employed  upon  scien- 
tific and  literary  subjects,  would  excite  our  astonish- 
ment ;  and  we  should,  perhaps,  immediately  attribute  it 
to  superior  original  genius.  We  may  surely  educate 
children  to  this  habit  of  abstracting  the  attention,  which 
we  allow  depends  entirely  upon  practice.  When  we 
are  very  much  interested  upon  any  subject,  we  attend  to 
it  exclusively,  and,  without  any  effort,  we  surmount  all 
petty  interposing  interruptions.  When  we  are  reading 
an  interesting  book,  twenty  people  may  converse  round 
about  us  without  our  hearing  one  word  that  they  say  , 
when  we  are  in  a  crowded  playhouse,  the  moment  we 
become  interested  in  the  play  the  audience  vanish  from 
our  sight,  and  in  the  midst  of  various  noises,  we  hear 
only  the  voices  of  the  actors. 

*  Mr.  Owen. 


88  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

,  'In  the  same  manner,  children,  by  their  eager  looks 
and  their  unaffected  absence  to  all  external  circum- 
stances, show  when  they  are  thoroughly  interested  by 
any  story  that  is  told  with  eloquence  suited  to  their 
age.  When  we  would  teach  them  to  attend  in  the  midst 
of  noise  and  interruptions,  we  should  begin  by  talking 
to  them  about  things  which  we  are  sure  will  please  them ; 
by  degrees  we  may  speak  on  less  captivating  subjects, 
when  we  perceive  that  their  habit  of  beginning  to  listen 
with  an  expectation  of  pleasure  is  formed.  Whenever 
a  child  happens  to  be  intent  upon  any  favourite  amuse- 
ment, or  when  he  is  reading  any  very  entertaining  book, 
we  may  increase  the  busy  hum  around  him,  we  may 
make  what  bustle  we  please,  he  will  probably  continue 
attentive ;  it  is  useful  therefore  to  give  him  such  amuse- 
ments and  such  books  when  there  is  a  noise  or  bustle  in 
the  room,  because  then  he  will  learn  to  disregard  all 
interruptions ;  and  when  this  habit  is  formed,  he  may 
even  read  less  amusing  books  in  the  same  company, 
without  being  interrupted  by  the  usual  noises. 

The  power  of  abstracting  our  attention  is  universally 
allowed  to  be  necessary  to  the  successful  labour  of  the 
understanding ;  but  we  may  further  observe,  that  this 
abstraction  is  characteristic  in  some  cases  of  heroism 
as  well  as  of  genius.  Charles  the  Twelfth  and  Ar- 
chimedes were  very  different  men ;  yet  both,  in  similar 
circumstances,  gave  similar  proofs  of  their  uncommon 
power  of  abstracting  their  attention.  "  What  has  the 
bomb  to  do  with  what  you  are  writing  to  Sweden,"  said 
the  hero  to  his  pale  secretary  when  a  bomb  burst 
through  the  roof  of  his  apartment,  and  he  continued  to 
dictate  his  letter.  Archimedes  went  on  with  his  de- 
monstration in  the  midst  of  a  siege,  and  when  a  brutal 
soldier  entered  with  a  drawn  sword,  the  philosopher 
only  begged  he  might  solve  his  problem  before  he  were 
put  to  death. 

Presence  of  mind  in  danger,  which  is  usually  supposed 
to  depend  upon  our  quick  perception  of  all  the  present 
circumstances,  frequently  demands  a  total  abstraction 
of  our  thoughts.  In  danger,  fear  is  the  motive  which 
excites  our  exertions  ;  but  from  all  the  ideas  that  fear 
naturally  suggests,  we  must  abstract  our  attention,  or 
we  shall  not  act  with  courage  or  prudence.  In  propor- 
tion to  the  violence  of  our  terror,  our  voluntary  exer- 
tion must  be  great  to  withdraw  our  thoughts  from  the 


ATTENTION.  89 

present  danger,  and  to  recollect  the  means  of  escape. 
In  some  cases,  where  the  danger  has  been  associated 
with  the  use  of  certain  methods  of  escape,  we  use  these 
without  deliberation,  and  consequently  without  any 
effort  of  attention  ;  as  when  we  see  any  thing  catch 
fire,  we  instantly  throw  water  upon  the  flames  to  ex- 
tinguish them.  But  in  new  situations,  where  we  have 
no  mechanical  courage,_we  must  exert  much  voluntary, 
quick,  abstract  attention,  to  escape  from  danger. 

When  Lee,  the  poet,  was  confined  in  Bedlam,  a  friend 
went  to  visit  him ;  and  finding  that  he  could  converse 
reasonably,  or  at  least  reasonably  for  a  poet,  imagined 
that  Lee  was  cured  of  his  madness.  The  poet  offered 
to  show  him  Bedlam.  They  went  over  this  melancholy, 
medical  prison,  Lee  moralizing  philosophically  enough 
all  the  time  to  keep  his  companion  perfectly  at  ease.  At 
length  they  ascended  together  to  the  top  of  the  building  ; 
and,  as  they  were  both  looking  down  from  the  perilous 
height,  Lee  seized  his  friend  by  the  arm  ;  "  Let  us  im- 
mortalize ourselves !"  he  exclaimed  ;  "  Let  us  take  this 
leap.  We'll  jump  down  together  this  instant." — "  Any 
man  could  jump  down,"  said  his  friend,  coolly ;  "  we 
should  not  immortalize  ourselves  by  that  leap ;  but  let 
us  go  down,  and  try  if  we  can  jump  up  again."  The 
madman,  struck  with  the  idea  of  a  more  astonishing  leap 
than  that  which  he  had  himself  proposed,  yielded  to  this 
new  impulse,  and  his  friend  rejoicdti  to  see  him  run  down 
stairs  full  of  a  new  project  for  securing  immortality. 

Lee's  friend,  upon  this  occasion,  showed  rather  ab- 
sence than  presence  of  mind  :  before  he  could  have  in- 
vented the  happy  answer  that  saved  his  life,  he  must 
have  abstracted  his  mind  from  the  passion  of  fear ;  he 
must  have  rapidly  turned  his  attention  upon  a  variety 
of  ideas  unconnected  by  any  former  associations  with 
the  exciting  motive — falling  from  a  height — fractured 
sculls — certain  death — impossibility  of  reasoning  or 
wrestling  with  a  madman.  This  was  the  train  of 
thoughts  which  we  might  naturally  expect  to  arise  in 
such  a  situation,  but  from  all  these  the  man  of  presence 
of  mind  turned  away  his  attention ;  he  must  have  di- 
rected his  thoughts  in  a  contrary  line:  first, he  must  have 
thought  of  the  means  of  saving  himself,  of  some  argu- 
ment likely  to  persuade  a  madman,  of  some  argument 
peculiarly  suited  to  Lee's  imagination,  and  applicable  to 
his  situation ;  he  must  at  this  moment  have  considered 


90  PRACTICAL   -KDUCATION. 

that  alarming  situation  without  thinking  of  his  fears, 
for  the  interval  in  which  ail  these  ideas  passed  in  his 
mind  must  have  been  so  short,  that  he  could  not  have 
had  leisure  to  combat  fear  ;  if  any  of  the  ideas  associ- 
ated with  that  passion  had  interrupted  his  reasonings,  he 
would  not  have,  invented  his  answer  in  time  to  have 
saved  his  life. 

We  cannot  foresee  on  what  occasions  presence  of 
mind  may  be  wanted,  but  we  may,  by  education,  give 
that  general  command  of  abstract  attention,  which  is 
essential  to  its  exercise  in  all  circumstances. 

Transition  of  thought,  the  power  of  turning  attention 
quickly  to  different  subjects  or  employments,  is  another 
of  those  mental  habits,  which  in  some  cases  we  call 
genius,  and  which  in  others  we  perceive  depends  entirely 
upon  practice.  A  number  of  trials  in  one  newspaper, 
upon  a  variety  of  unconnected  subjects,  once  struck  our 
eye,  and  we  saw  the  name  of  a  celebrated  lawyer*  as 
counsel  in  each  cause.  We  could  not  help  feeling  in- 
voluntary admiration  at  that  versatility  of  genius,  which 
could  pass  from  a  fractional  calculation  about  a  London 
chaldron  of  coals,  to  the  Jamaica  laws  of  insurance ; 
from  the  bargains  of  a  citizen,  to  the  divorce  of  a  fine 
lady ;  from  pathos  to  argument ;  from  arithmetic  to  wit ; 
from  cross-examination  to  eloquence.  For  a  moment 
we  forgot  our  sober  principles,  and  ascribed  all  this  ver- 
satility of  mind  to  natural  genius  ;  but  upon  reflection 
we  recurred  to  the  belief,  that  this  dexterity  of  intellect 
was  not  bestowed  by  nature.  We  observe  in  men  who 
have  no  pretensions  to  genius,  similar  versatility  of 
mind  as  to  their  usual  employments.  The  daily  occu- 
pations of  Mr.  Elwes's  huntsman  were  as  various  and 
incongruous,  and  required  as  quick  transitions  of  atten- 
tion, as  any  that  can  well  be  imagined. 

"  Atf  four  o'clock  he  milked  the  cows ;  then  got 
breakfast  for  Mr.  Elwes  and  friends  ;  then  slipping  on  a 
green  coat,  he  hurried  into  the  stable,  saddled  the  horses, 
got  the  hounds  out  of  the  kennel,  and  away  they  went 
into  the  field.  After  the  fatigues  of  hunting,  he  refreshed 
himself,  by  rubbing  down  two  or  three  horses  as  quickly 
as  he  could  ;  then  running  into  the  house  to  lay  the 
cloth,  and  wait  at  dinner  ;  then  hurrying  again  into  the 

*  Mr.  Erskine— The  STAR. 

t  See  Lite  of  John  Elwes,  Esq.  by  T.  Topham. 


ATTENTION.  91 

stable  to  feed  the  horses,  diversified  with  an  interlude  of 
the  cows  again  to  milk,  the  dogs  to  feed,  and  eight 
hunters  to  litter  down  for  the  night."  Mr.  Elwes  used 
to  call  this  huntsman  an  idle  dog,  who  wanted  to  be 
paid  for  doing  nothing ! 

We  do  not  mean  to  require  any  such  rapid  daily 
transitions  in  the  exercise  of  attention  from  our  pupils  ; 
but  we  think  that  much  may  be  done  to  improve  ver- 
satility of  mind,  by  a  juuicious  arrangement  of  their 
occupations.  When  we  are  tired  of  smelling  a  rose, 
we  can  smell  a  carnation  with  pleasure ;  and  when  the 
sense  of  smell  is  fatigued,  yet  we  can  look  at  the  beau- 
tiful colours  with  delight.  When  we  are  tired  of  think- 
ing upon  one  subject,  we  can  attend  to  another ;  when 
our  memory  is  fatigued,  the  exercise  of  the  imagination 
entertains  us ;  and  when  we  are  weary  of  reasoning, 
we  can  amase  ourselves  with  wit  and  humour.  Men 
who  have  attended  much  to  the  cultivation  of  their 
mind,  seem  to  have  felt  all  this,  and  they  have  kept 
some  subordinate  taste  as  a  refreshment  after  their 
labours.  Descartes  went  from  the  system  of  the  world 
to  his  flower-garden ;  Galileo  used  to  read  Ariosto ; 
and  the  metaphysical  Dr.  Clarke  recovered  himself  from 
abstraction  by  jumping  over  chairs  and  tables.  The 
learned  and  indefatigable  Chancellor  d'Aguesseau  de- 
clared, that  change  of  employment  was  the  only  recre- 
ation he  ever  knew.  Even  Montaigne,  who  found  his 
recreation  in  playing  with  his  cat,  educated  himself 
better  than  those  are  educated  who  go  from  intense 
study  to  complete  idleness.  It  has  been  very  wisely 
recommended  by  Mr.  Locke,  that  young  people  should 
early  be  taught  some  mechanical  employment,  or  some 
agreeable  art,  to  which  they  may  recur  for  relief  when 
they  are  tired  by  mental  application.* 

Doctor  Darwin  supposes  that  "  animal  motions,  or 
configurations  of  the  organs  of  sense,  constitute  our 
ideas. |  The  fatigue,  he  observes,  that  follows  a  con- 
tinued attention  of  the  mind  to  one  object,  is  relieved  by 
changing  the  subject  of  our  thoughts,  as  the  continued 
movement  of  one  limb  is  relieved  by  moving  another  in 
its  stead."  Dr.  Darwin  has  further  suggested  a  tempt- 
ing subject  of  experiment  in  his  theory  of  ocular  spec- 

*  See  Chapter  on  Toys. 
t  Zoonomia,  vol.  i.  p.  21,  24. 


92  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

tra,  to  which  we  refer  ingenious  preceptors.  Many 
useful  experiments  in  education  might  be  tried  upon  the 
principles  which  are  there  suggested.  We  dare  not  here 
trust  ourselves  to  speculate  upon  this  subject,  because  we 
are  not  at  present  provided  with  a  sufficient  number  of 
facts  to  apply  our  theory  to  practice.  If  we  could  ex- 
actly discover  how  to  arrange  mental  employments  so 
as  to  induce  actions  in  the  antagonist  faculties  of  the 
mind,  we  might  relieve  it  from  fatigue  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  eye  is  relieved  by  change  of  colour.  By  pur- 
suing this  idea,  might  we  not  hope  to  cultivate  the 
general  power  of  attention  to  a  degree  of  perfection 
hitherto  unknown  ] 

We  have  endeavoured  to  show  how,  by  different  ar- 
rangements and  proper  excitations,  a  preceptor  may 
acquire  that  command  over  the  attention  of  his  pupils, 
which  is  absolutely  essential  to  successful  'instruction ; 
but  we  must  recollect,  that  when  the  years  commonly 
devoted  to  education  are  over,  when  young  people  are 
no  longer  under  the  care  of  a  preceptor,  they  will  con- 
tinue to  feel  the  advantages  of  a  command  of  attention, 
whenever  they  mix  in  the  active  business  of  life,  or 
whenever  they  apply  to  any  profession,  to  literature,  or 
science.  Their  attention  must  now  be  entirely  volun- 
tary ;  they  will  have  no  tutor  to  excite  them  to  exertion, 
no  nice  habitual  arrangements  to  assist  them  in  their 
daily  occupations.  It  is  of  consequence,  therefore,  that 
we  should  substitute  the  power  of  voluntary,  for  the 
habit  of  associated  attention.  With  young  children 
we  depend  upon  particular  associations  of  place,  time, 
and  manner;  upon  different  sorts  of  excitement,  to  pro- 
duce habits  of  employment :  but  as  our  pupils  advance 
in  their  education,  all  these  temporary  excitements 
should  be  withdrawn.  Some  large,  but  distant  object, 
some  pursuit  which  is  not  to  be  rewarded  with  imme- 
diate praise,  but  rather  with  permanent  advantage  and 
esteem,  should  be  held  out  to  the  ambition  of  youth. 
All  the  arrangements  should  be  left  to  the  pupil  him- 
self; all  the  difficulties  should  be  surmounted  by  his  own 
industry,  and  the  interest  he  takes  in  his  own  success 
and  improvement,  will  now  probably  be  a  sufficient 
stimulus;  his  preceptor  will  now  rather  be  his  partner 
than  his  master,  he  should  rather  share  the  labour  than 
attempt  to  direct  it ;  this  species  of  sympathy  in  study 
diminishes  the  pain  of  attention,  and  gives  an  agreeable 


A1'TKNTi<»N.  93 

interest  even  in  the  most  tiresome  researches.  When  a 
young  man  perceives  that  his  preceptor  becomes  in  this 
manner  the  companion  of  his  exertions,  he  loses  all  sus- 
picion that  he  is  compelled  to  mental  labour;  it  is  im- 
proper to  say  loses,  for  in  a  good  education  this  sus- 
picion need  not  ever  be  created:  he  discovers,  we 
should  rather  say,  that  all  the  habits  of  attention  which 
he  has  acquired,  are  thosa  which  are  useful  to  men  as 
well  as  to  children ;  and  he  feels  the  advantage  of  his 
cultivated  powers  on  every  fresh  occasion.  He  will 
perceive,  that  young  men  who  have  been  ill  educated, 
cannot,  by  any  motive,  command  their  vigorous  atten- 
tion, and  he  will  feel  the  cause  of  his  own  superiority, 
when  he  comes  to  any  trial  of  skill  with  inattentive 
men  of  genius. 

One  of  the  arguments  which  Bayle  uses,  to  prove  that 
fortune  has  a  greater  influence  than  prudence  in  the 
affairs  of  men,  is  founded  upon  the  common  observa- 
tion, that  men  of  the  best  abilities  cannot  frequently  re- 
collect, in  urgent  circumstances,  what  they  have  said 
or  done ;  the  things  occur  to  them  perhaps  a  moment 
after  they  are  past.  The  fact  seems  to  be,  that  they 
could  not,  in  the  proper  moment,  command  their  atten- 
tion ;  but  this  we  should  attribute  to  the  want  of  pru- 
dence, in  their  early  education.  Thus,  Bayle's  argu- 
ment does  not,  in  this  point  of  view,  prove  any  thing  in 
favour  of  fortune.  Those  who  can  best  command  their 
attention,  in  the  greatest  variety  of  circumstances,  have 
the  most  useful  abilities ;  without  this  command  of 
mind,  men  of  genius,  as  they  are  called,  are  hopeless 
beings  ;  with  it,  persons  of  inferior  capacity  become 
valuable.  Addison  trembled  and  doubted,  and  doubted 
and  trembled,  when  he  was  to  write  a  common  official 
paper ;  and  it  is  said,  that  he  was  absolutely  obliged  to 
resign  his  place,  because  he  could  not  decide  in  time 
whether  he  should  write  a  that  or  a  which.  No  business 
could  have  been  transacted  by  such  an  imbecile  minister. 

To  substitute  voluntary  for  associated  attention,  we 
may  withdraw  some  of  the  usually  associated  circum- 
stances, and  increase  the  excitement ;  and  we  may  after- 
ward accustom  the  pupil  to  act  from  the  hope  of  distant 
pleasures.  Unless  children  can  be  actuated  by  the  view 
of  future  distant  advantage,  they  cannot  be  capable  of 
long-continued  application.  We  shall  endeavour  to  ex- 
plain how  the  value  of  distant  pleasures  can  be  increased, 


94  PRACTICAL    K.DUCATION. 

and  made  to  act  with  sufficient  force  upon  the  mind, 
when  we  hereafter  speak  of  judgment  and  of  imag- 
ination. 

It  has  been  observed,  that  persons  of  wit  and  judg- 
ment have  perhaps  originally  the  same  powers,  and 
that  the  difference  in  their  characters  arises  from  their 
habits  of  attention,  and  the  different  class  of  objects  to 
which  they  have  turned  their  thoughts.  The  manner  in 
which  we  are  first  taught  to  observe,  and  to  reason,  must 
in  the  first  years  of  life  decide  these  habits.  There  are 
two  methods  of  teaching:  one  which  ascends  from  par- 
ticular facts  to  general  principles  ;  the  other  which  de- 
scends from  the  general  principles  to  particular  facts  ; 
one  which  builds  up,  another  which  takes  to  pieces  ;  the 
synthetic  and  the  analytic  method.  The  words  analysis 
and  synthesis  are  frequently  misapplied,  and  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  write  or  to  speak  long  about  these  methods  with- 
out confounding  them  :  in  learning  or  in  teaching  we 
often  use  them  alternately.  We  first  observe  particu- 
lars ;  then  form  some  general  idea  of  classification ; 
then  descend  again  to  new  particulars,  to  observe 
whether  they  correspond  with  our  principle. 

Children  acquire  knowledge,  and  their  attention  al- 
ternates from  particular  to  general  ideas,  exactly  in  the 
same  manner.  It  has  been  remarked,  that  men  who 
have  begun  by  forming  suppositions,  are  inclined  to 
adapt  and  to  compress  their  consequent  observations 
to  the  measure  of  their  theories  ;  they  have  been  negli- 
gent in  collecting  facts,  and  have  not  condescended  to 
try  experiments.  This  disposition  of  mind,  during  a 
long  period  of  time,  retarded  improvement,  and  knowl- 
edge was  confined  to  a  few  peremptory  maxims  and 
exclusive  principles.  The  necessity  of  collecting  facts, 
and  of  trying  experiments,  was  at  length  perceived ;  and 
in  all  the  sciences  this  mode  has  lately  prevailed  ;  con- 
sequently, we  have  now  on  many  subjects  a  treasure  of 
accumulated  facts.  We  are,  in  educating  children,  to 
put  them  in  possession  of  all  this  knowledge ;  and  a 
judicious  preceptor  will  wish  to  know,  not  only  how 
these  facts  can  be  crammed  speedily  into  his  pupil's 
memory,  but  what  order  of  presenting  them  will  be  most 
advantageous  to  the  understanding ;  he  will  desire  to 
cultivate  his  pupil's  faculties,  that  he  may  acquire  new 
facts,  and  make  new  observations  after  all  the  old  facts 
have  been  arranged  in  his  mind. 


ATTKNTION.  95 

By  a  judicious  arrangement  of  past  experiments,  and 
by  the  rejection  of  what  are  useless,  an  able  instructer 
can  show,  in  a  small  compass,  what  it  has  cost  the 
labour  of  ages  to  accumulate  ;  he  may  teach  in  a  few 
hours  what  the  most  ingenious  pupil,  left  to  his  own 
random  efforts,  could  not  have  learned  in  many  years. 
It  would  take  up  as  much  time  to  go  over  all  the  steps 
which  have  been  made  in  any  science,  as  it  originally 
cost  the  first  discoverers.  Simply  to  repeat  all  the 
fruitless  experiments  which  have  been  made  in  chym- 
istry,  for  instance,  would  probably  employ  the  longest 
life  that  ever  was  devoted  to  science  ;  nor  would  the 
individual  have  got  one  step  forwarder ;  he  would  die, 
and  with  him  his  recapitulated  knowledge  ;  neither  he 
nor  the  world  would  be  the  better  for  it.  It  is  our 
business  to  save  children  all  this  useless  labour,  and  all 
this  waste  of  the  power  of  attention.  A  pupil  who  is 
properly  instructed,  with  the  same  quantity  of  attention, 
learns,  perhaps,  a  hundred  times  as  much  in  the  same 
time,  as  he  could  acquire  under  the  tuition  of  a  learned 
preceptor  ignorant  in  the  art  of  teaching. 

The  analytic  and  synthetic  methods  of  instruction 
will  both  be  found  useful  when  judiciously  employed. 
Where  the  enumeration  of  particulars  fatigues  the  at- 
tention, we  should,  in  teaching  any  science,  begin  by 
stating  the  general  principles,  and  afterward  produce 
only  the  facts  essential  to  their  illustration  and  proof. 
But  wherever  we  have  not  accumulated  a  sufficient 
number  of  facts  to  be  accurately  certain  of  any  general 
principle,  we  must,  however  tedious  the  task,  enumerate 
all  the  facts  that  are  known,  and  warn  the  pupil  of  the 
imperfect  state  of  the  science.  All  the  facts  must,  in 
this  case,  be  stored  up  with  scrupulous  accuracy ;  we 
cannot  determine  which  are  unimportant,  and  which 
may  prove  essentially  useful ;  this  can  be  decided  only 
by  future  experiments.  By  thus  stating  honestly  to  our 
pupils  the  extent  of  our  ignorance,  as  well  as  the  extent 
of  our  knowledge  ;  by  thus  directing  attention  to  the  im- 
perfections of  science,  rather  than  to  the  study  of  theo- 
ries, we  shall  avoid  the  just  reproaches  which  have  been 
thrown  upon  the  dogmatic  vanity  of  learned  preceptors. 

"  For  as  knowledges  are  now,"  says  Bacon,  "  there 
is  a  kind  of  contract  of  error  between  the  deliverer  and 
receiver ;  for  he  that  delivereth  knowledge,  desireth  to 
deliver  it  in  such  a  form  as  may  be  best  believed,  and 


96  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

;not  as  may  be  best  examined;  and  he  that  receiveth 
knowledge,  desireth  rather  present  satisfaction  than  ex- 
pectant inquiry  ;  and  so  rather  not  to  doubt  than  not  to 
err ;  glory  making  the  author  not  to  lay  open  his  weak- 
ness, and  sloth  making  the  disciple  not  to  know  his 
strength."* 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SERVANTS. 

"  Now,  master,"!  said  a  fond  nurse  to  her  favourite 
boy,  after  having  given  him  sugared  bread  and  butter 
for  supper,  "  now,  master,  kiss  me  ;  wipe  your  mouth, 
dear,  and  go  up  to  the  drawing-room  to  mamma ;  and 
when  mistress  asks  you  what  you  have  had  for  supper, 
you'll  say,  bread  and  butter,  for  you  have  had  bread 
and  butter,  you  know,  master." — "  And  sugar,"  said  the 
boy ;  "  I  must  say  bread  and  butter,  and  sugar,  you  know." 

How  few  children  would  have  had  the  courage  to 
have  added,  "  and  sugar  !"  How  dangerous  it  is  to  ex- 
pose them  to  such  temptations  !  The  boy  must  have 
immediately  perceived  the  object  of  the  nurse's  casu- 
istry. He  must  guess  that  she  would  be  blamed  for  the 
addition  of  the  sugar,  else  why  should  she  wish  to  sup- 
press the  word  1  His  gratitude  is  engaged  to  his  nurse 
for  running  this  risk  to  indulge  him ;  his  mother,  by 
the  force  of  contrast,  appears  a  severe  person,  who, 
for  no  reason  that  he  can  comprehend,  would  deprive 
him  of  the  innocent  pleasure  of  eating  sugar.  As  to 
its  making  him  sick,  he  has  eaten  it,  and  he  is  not  sick  ; 
as  to  its  spoiling  his  teeth,  he  does  not  care  about  his 
teeth,  and  he  sees  no  immediate  change  in  them :  there- 
fore he  concludes  that  his  mother's  orders  are  capricious, 
and  that  his  nurse  loves  him  better  because  she  gives 
him  the  most  pleasure.  His  honour  and  affection  to- 
wards his  nurse  are  immediately  set  in  opposition  to 
his  duty  to  his  mother.  What  a  hopeful  beginning  in 
education !  What  a  number  of  dangerous  ideas  may  be 
given  by  a  single  word  ! 

.*  Bacon,  vol.  i.  p.  84. 

t  Verbatim  from  what  has  been  really  said  to  a  boy 


8KKVANTS.  97 

The  taste  for  sugared  bread  and  butter  is  soon  over  j 
but  servants  have  it  in  their  power  to  excite  other  tastes 
with  premature  and  factitious  enthusiasm.  The  waiting- 
maid,  a  taste  for  dress  ;  the  footman,  a  taste  for  gaming ; 
the  coachman  and  groom,  for  horses  and  equipage  ;  and 
the  butler,  for  wine.  The  simplicity  of  children  is  not 
a  defence  to  them  ;  and  though  they  are  totally  ignorant 
of  vice,  they  are  exposed  to  adopt  the  principles  of 
those  with  whom  they  live,  even  before  they  can  apply 
them  to  their  own  conduct. 

The  young  son  of  a  lady  of  quality,  a  boy  of  six  or 
seven  years  old,  addressed,  with  great  simplicity,  the 
following  speech  to  a  lady  who  visited  his  mother. 

Boy.  Miss  N ,  I  wish  you  could  find  somebody, 

when  you  go  to  London,  who  would  keep  you.  It's 
a  very  good  thing  to  be  kept. 

Lady.  What  do  you  mean,  my  dear  ? 

Boy.  Why  it's  when — you  know,  when  a  person's 
kept,  they  have  every  thing  found  for  them  ;  their  friend 
saves  them  all  trouble,  you  know.  They  have  a  car- 
riage and  diamonds,  and  every  thing  they  want.  I  wish 
somebody  would  keep  you. 

Lady,  (laughing.)  But  I'm  afraid  nobody  would.  Do 
you  think  anybody  would  '\ 

Boy.  (after  a  pause.)  Why  yes,  I  think  Sir  , 

naming  a  gentleman  whose  name  had,  at  this  time,  been 
much  talked  of  in  a  public  trial,  would  be  as  likely  as 
anybody. 

The  same  boy  talked  familiarly  of  phaetons  and  gigs, 
and  wished  that  he  was  grown  up,  that  he  might  drive 
four  horses  in  hand.  It  is  obvious  that  these  ideas  were 
put  into  the  boy's  head  by  the  servants  with  whom  he 
associated. 

Without  supposing  them  to  be  profligate,  servants, 
from  their  situation,  from  all  that  they  see  of  the  society 
of  their  superiors,  and  from  the  early  prejudices  of  their 
own  education,  learn  to  admire  that  wealth  and  rank  to 
which  they  are  bound  to  pay  homage.  The  luxuries 
and  follies  of  fashionable  life  they  mistake  for  happiness ; 
they  measure  the  respect  they  pay  to  strangers  by  their 
external  appearance  ;  they  value  their  own  masters  and 
mistresses  by  the  same  standard ;  and  in  their  attach- 
ment there  is  a  necessary  mixture  of  that  sympathy 
which  is  sacred  to  prosperity.  Setting  aside  all  in- 
terested motives,  servants  love  show  and  prodigality  in 
9 


98  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

their  masters  ;  they  feel  that  they  partake  the  triumph, 
and  they  wish  it  to  be  as  magnificent  as  possible.  These 
dispositions  break  out  naturally  in  the  conversation  of 
servants  with  one  another ;  if  children  are  suffered  to 
hear  them,  they  will  quickly  catch  the  same  tastes.  But 
if  these  ideas  break  out  in  their  unpremeditated  gossiping 
with  one  another,  how  much  more  strongly  will  they 
be  expressed  when  servants  wish  to  ingratiate  them- 
selves into  a  child's  affections  by  flattery !  Their 
method  of  showing  their  attachment  to  a  family,  is 
usually  to  exaggerate  in  their  expressions  of  admiration 
of  its  consequence  and  grandeur  ;  they  deprecate  all 
whom  they  imagine  to  be  competitors  in  any  respect 
with  their  masters,  and  feed  and  foster  the  little  jeal- 
ousies which  exist  between  neighbouring  families.  The 
children  of  these  families  are  thus  early  set  at  variance  ; 
the  children  in  the  same  family  are  often  taught,  by  the 
imprudence  or  malice  of  servants,  to  dislike  and  envy 
each  other.  In  houses  where  each  child  has  an  attend- 
ant, the  attendants  regularly  quarrel,  and  out  of  a  show 
of  zeal,  make  their  young  masters  and  mistresses  parties 
in  their  animosity.  Three  or  four  maids  sometimes 
produce  their  little  dressed  pupils  for  a  few  minutes  to 
the  company  in  the  drawing-room,  for  the  express  pur- 
pose of  seeing  which  shall  obtain  the  greatest  share  of 
admiration.  This  competition,  which  begins  in  their 
nurses'  arms,  is  continued  by  daily  artifices  through  the 
whole  course  of  their  nursery  education.  Thus  the 
emulation  of  children  is  rendered  a  torment  to  them, 
their  ambition  is  directed  to  absurd  and  vile  purposes, 
the  understanding  is  perverted,  their  temper  is  spoiled, 
their  simplicity  of  mind,  and  their  capability  of  enjoying 
happiness,  materially  injured. 

The  language  and  manners,  the  awkward  and  vulgar 
tricks  which  children  learn  in  the  society  of  servants, 
are  immediately  perceived,  and  disgust  and  shock  well- 
bred  parents.  This  is  an  evil  which  is  striking  and 
disgraceful ;  it  is  more  likely  to  be  remedied  than  those 
which  are  more  secret  and  slow  in  their  operation: 
the  habits  of  cunning,  falsehood,  envy,  which  lurk  in 
the  temper,  are  not  instantly  visible  to  strangers  ;  they 
do  not  appear  the  moment  children  are  reviewed  by  their 
parents  ;  they  may  remain  for  years  without  notice  or 
without  cure. 

All  these  things  have  been  said  a  hundred  times ;  and 


SERVANTS.  99 

what  is  more,  they  are  universally  acknowledged  to  be 
true.  It  has  passed  into  a  common  maxim  with  all  who 
reflect,  and  even  with  all  who  speak  upon  the  subject 
of  education,  that  "  it  is  the  worst  thing  in  the  world  to 
leave  children  with  servants."  But,  notwithstanding  this, 
eachperson  imagines  that  he  has  found  some  lucky  excep- 
tion to  the  general  rule.  There  is  some  favourite  maid 
or  phenix  of  a  footman  in  each  family,  who  is  supposed 
to  be  unlike  all  other  servants,  and,  therefore,  qualified 
for  the  education  of  children.  But,  if  their  qualifica- 
tions were  scrupulously  examined,  it  is  to  be  feared  they 
would  not  be  found  competent  to  the  trust  that  is  re- 
posed in  them.  They  may,  nevertheless,  be  excellent 
servants,  much  attached  to  their  masters  and  mistresses, 
and  sincerely  desirous  to  obey  their  orders  in  the  man- 
agement of  their  pupils  ;  but  this  is  not  sufficient.  In 
education  it  is  not  enough  to  obey  the  laws  ;  it  is  ne- 
cessary to  understand  them  ;  to  understand  the  spirit,  as 
well  as  the  letter  of  the  law.  The  blind  application  of 
general  maxims  will  never  succeed;  and  can  that  nice 
discrimination  which  is  necessary  to  the  just  use  of  good 
principles,  be  expected  from  those  who  have  never 
studied  the  human  mind,  who  have  little  motive  for  the 
study,  whose  knowledge  is  technical,  and  who  have 
never  had  any  ITberal  education]  Give,  or  attempt  to 
give,  the  best  waiting-maid  in  London  the  general 
maxim,  "  That  pain  should  be  associated  with  whatever 
we  wish  to  make  children  avoid  doing ;  and  pleasure 
should  be  associated  with  whatever  we  wish  that  children 
should  love  to  do ;"  will  the  waiting-maid  understand 
this,  even  if  you  exchange  the  word  associated  for  joined? 
How  will  she  apply  her  new  principle  in  practice  ?  She 
will  probably  translate  it  into,  "  Whip  the  child  when  it 
is  troublesome,  and  give  it  sweetmeats  when  it  does  as 
it  is  bid."  With  this  compendious  system  of  tuition 
she  is  well  satisfied,  especially  as  it  contains -nothing 
which  is  new  to  her  understanding,  or  foreign  to  her 
habits.  But  if  we  should  expect  her  to  enter  into  the 
views  of  a  Locke  or  a  Barbauld,  would  it  not  be  at  once 
unreasonable  and  ridiculous  ? 

What  has  been  said  of  the  understanding  and  disposi- 
tions of  servants,  relates  only  to  servants  as  they  are 
now  educated.  Their  vices  and  their  ignorance  arise 
from  the  same  causes,  the  want  of  education.  They  are 
not  a  separate  caste  in  society,  doomed  to  ignorance,  or 
E2 


100  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

degraded  by  inherent  vice  ;  they  are  capable,  they  are 
desirous  of  instruction.  Let  them  be  well  educated,* 
and  the  difference  in  their  conduct  and  understanding 
will  repay  society  for  the  trouble  of  the  undertaking. 
This  education  must  begin  as  early  as  possible ;  let  us 
not  imagine  that  it  is  practicable  to  change  the-  habits 
of  servants  who  are  already  educated,  and  to  make  them 
suddenly  fit  companions  in  a  family.  They  should  not, 
in  any  degree,  be  permitted  to  interfere  with  the  man- 
agement of  children,  until  their  own  education  has  been 
radically  reformed.  Let  servants  be  treated  with  the 
utmost  kindness ;  let  their  situations  be  made  as  happy 
as  possible  ;  let  the  reward  of  their  services  and  attach- 
ment be  as  liberal  as  possible  ;  but  reward  with  justice  ; 
do  not  sacrifice  your  children  to  pay  your  own  debts. 
Familiarity  between  servants  and  children  cannot  per- 
manently increase  the  happiness  of  either  party.  Chil- 
dren who  have  early  lived  with  servants,  as  they  grow 
up  are  notoriously  apt  to  become  capricious  and  tyran- 
nical masters.  A  boy  who  has  been  used  to  treat  a 
footman  as  his  playfellow,  cannot  suddenly  command 
from  him  that  species  of  deference  which  is  compounded 
of  habitual  respect  for  the  person,  and  conventional  sub- 
mission to  his  station ;  the  young  master  must,  there- 
fore, effect  a  change  in  his  footman's  manner  of  think- 
ing and  speaking  by  violent  means  ;  he  must  extort  that 
tribute  of  respect  which  he  has  neglected  so  long,  and 
to  which,  consequently,  his  right  is  disputed.!  He  is 
sensible  that  his  superiority  is  merely  that  of  situation, 
and  he  therefore  exerts  his  dormant  prerogatives  with 
jealous  insolence.  No  master  is  so  likely  to  become 
the  tyrant  of  his  valet-de-chambre  as  he  who  is  con- 
scious that  he  never  can  appear  to  him  a  hero.  No  ser- 
vant feels  the  yoke  of  servitude  more  galling,  than  he 
who  has  been  partially  emancipated  ;  who  has  lost  his 
habits  of  "  proud  subordination,  and  his  taste  for  digni- 
fied submission."! 

No  mistaken  motive  of  tenderness  to  domestics  should 
operate  upon  the  minds  of  parents  ;  nor  should  they 

*  Perhaps  an  institution  for  the  education  of  attendants  upon  chil- 
dren would  be  of  the  highest  utility. 

Mr. had  once  an  intention  of  educating  forty  children  for  this 

purpose :  from  among  whom  he  proposed  to  select  eight  or  ten  as 
masters  for  future  schools  upon  the  same  plan. 

1  See  the  comedy  of  Wild  Oats.  {  Burke. 


SERVANTS. 

hesitate,  for  the  general  happiness  of  their  families,  to 
insist  upon  a  total  separation  between  those  parts  of  it 
which  will  injure  each  other  essentially  by  their  union. 

Everybody  readily  disclaims  the  idea  of  letting  chil- 
dren live  with  servants  ;  but,  besides  the  exceptions  in 
favour  of  particular  individuals,  there  is  yet  another 
cause  of  the  difference  between  theory  and  practice  upon 
this  subject.  Time  is"*!eft  out  of  the  consideration; 
people  forget  that  life  is  made  up  of .  days  and  hours ; 
and  they  by  no  means  think  that  letting  children  pass 
several  hours  every  day  with  servants  has  any  thing  to 
do  with  the  idea  of  living  with  them.  We  must  contract 
this  latitude  of  expression.  If  children  pass  one  hour 
in  a  day  with  servants,  it  will  be  in  vain  to  attempt  their 
education. 

Madame  Roland,  in  one  of  her  letters  to  De  Bosc,  says 
that  her  little  daughter  Eudora  had  learned  to  swear ; 
"  And  yet,"  continues  she,  "  I  leave  her  but  one  half 
hour  a  day  with  servants.  Admirez  la  disposition !" 
Madame  Roland  could  not  have  been  much  accustomed 
to  attend  to  education. 

While  children  are  very  young,  there  appears  a  ne- 
cessity for  their  spending  at  least  half  an  hour  a  day  with 
servants  ;  until  they  are  four  or  five  years  old,  they  can- 
not dress  or  undress  themselves,  or,  if  they  attempt  it, 
they  may  learn  careless  habits,  which  in  girls  are  par- 
ticularly to  be  avoided.  If  a  mother,  or  a  governess, 
would  make  it  a  rule  to  be  present  when  they  are  dres- 
sing, a  maidservant  would  not  talk  to  them,  and  could 
do  them  but  little  injury.  It  is  of  consequence  that  the 
maidservant  should  herself  be  perfectly  neat,  both  from 
habit  and  taste.  Children  observe  exactly  the  manner 
in  which  every  thing  is  done  for  them,  and  have  the 
wish,  even  before  they  have  the  power,  to  imitate  what 
they  see  ;  they  love  order,  if  they  are  accustomed  to  it, 
and  if  their  first  attempts  at  arrangement  are  not  made 
irksome  by  injudicious  management.  What  they  see 
done  every  day  in  a  particular  manner,  they  learn  to 
think  part  of  the  business  of  the  day,  and  they  are  un- 
easy if  any  of  the  rites  of  cleanliness  are  forgotten  ;  the 
transition  from  this  uneasiness  to  the  desire  of  exerting 
themselves,  is  soon  made,  particularly  if  they  are  some- 
times left  to  feel  the  inconveniences  of  being  helpless. 
This  should,  and, can  be  done,  without  affectation.  A 
maid  cannot  be  always  ready,  the  instant  she  is  wanted, 


102  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

to  attend  upon  them ;  they  should  not  be  waited  upon 
as  being  masters  and  misses,  they  should  be  assisted  as 
being  helpless.*  They  will  not  feel  their  vanity  flat 
tered  by  this  attendance ;  the  maid  will  not  be  suffered 
to  amuse  them,  they  will  be  ambitious  of  independence, 
and  they  will  soon  be  proud  of  doing  every  thing  for 
themselves. 

Another  circumstance  which  keeps  children  long  in 
subjection  to  servants  is,  their  not  being  able  to  wield  a 
knife,  fork,  or  spoon,  with  decent  dexterity.  Such  hab- 
its are  taught  to  them  by  the  careless  maids  who  feed 
them,  that  they  cannot  for  many  years  be  produced  even 
at  the  side-table  without  much  inconvenience  and  con- 
stant anxiety.  If  this  anxiety  in  a  mother  were  to  begin 
a  little  sooner,  it  need  never  be  intense  ;  patient  care  in 
feeding  children  neatly  at  first,  will  save  many  a  bitter 
reprimand  afterward  ;  their  little  mouths  and  hands  need 
not  be  disgusting  at  their  meals,  and  their  nurses  had 
better  take  care  not  to  let  them  touch  what  is  disagree- 
able, instead  of  rubbing  their  lips  rudely  with  a  rough 
napkin,  by  way  of  making  them  love  to  have  their  mouths 
clean.  These  minutiae  must,  in  spite  of  didactic  dignity, 
be  noticed,  because  they  lead  to  things  of  greater  con- 
sequence ;  they  are  well  worth  the  attention  of  a  pru- 
dent mother  or  governess.  If  children  are  early  taught 
to  eat  with  care,  they  will  not,  from  false  shame,  desire 
to  dinef  with  the  vulgar  indulgent  nursery-maid,  rather 
than  with  the  fastidious  company  at  their  mother's 
table.  Children  should  first  be  taught  to  eat  with  a 
spoon  what  has  been  neatly  cut  for  them ;  afterward 
they  should  cut  a  little  meat  for  themselves  towards  the 
end  of  dinner,  when  the  rage  of  hunger  is  appeased ; 
they  will  then  have  "  leisure  to  be  good."  The  several 
operations  of  learning  to  eat  with  a  spoon,  to  cut  and  to 
eat  with  a  knife  and  fork,  will  become  easy  and  habit- 
ual, if  sufficient  time  be  allowed. 

Several  children  in  a  family,  who  were  early  attended 
to  in  all  these  little  particulars,  were  produced  at  table 
when  they  were  four  or  five  years  old ;  they  suffered  no 
constraint,  nor  were  they  ever  banished  to  the  nursery 
lest  company  should  detect  their  evil  habits.  Their  eyes 
and  ears  were  at  liberty  during  the  time  of  dinner ;  and 
instead  of  being  absorbed  in  the  contemplation  of  their 

*  Rousseau,  t  See  Sancho  Panza. 


SERVANTS.  103 

plates,  and  at  war  with  themselves  and  their  neighbours, 
they  could  listen  to  conversation,  and  were  amused  even 
while  they  were  eating.  Without  meaning  to  assert, 
with  Rousseau,  that  all  children  are  naturally  gluttons 
or  epicures,  we  must  observe  that  eating  is  their  first 
great  and  natural  pleasure  ;  this  pleasure  should,  there- 
fore, be  entirely  at  the  disposal  of  those  who  have  the 
care  of  their  education ;  it  should  be  associated  with 
the  idea  of  their  tutors  or  governesses.  A  governess 
may,  perhaps,  disdain  to  use  the  same  means  to  make 
herself  beloved  by  a  child,  as  those  which  are  employed 
by  a  nursery-maid  ;  nor  is  it  meant  that  children  should 
be  governed  by  their  love  of  eating.  Eating  need  not 
be  made  a  reward,  nor  should  we  restrain  their  appetite 
as  a  punishment ;  praise  and  blame,  and  a  variety  of 
other  excitements,  must  be  preferred  when  we  want  to 
act  upon  their  understanding.  Upon  this  subject  we 
shall  speak  more  fully  hereafter.  All  that  is  here  meant 
to  be  pointed  out  is,  that  the  mere  physical  pleasure  of 
eating  should  not  be  associated  in  the  minds  of  children 
with  servants ;  it  should  not  be  at  the  disposal  of  ser- 
vants ;  because  they  may,  in  some  degree,  balance  by 
this  pleasure  the  other  motives  which  a  tutor  may  wish 
to  put  in  action.  "  Solid  pudding,"  as  well  as  "  empty 
praise,"  should  be  in  the  gift  of  the  preceptor. 

Besides  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  there  are  many 
others  which  usually  are  associated  early  with  ser- 
vants. After  children  have  been  pent  in  a  close  formal 
drawing-room,  motionless  and  mute,  they  are  frequently 
dismissed  to  an  apartment  where  there  is  no  furniture 
too  fine  to  be  touched  with  impunity,  where  there  is 
ample  space,  where  they  may  jump  and  sing,  and  make 
as  much  noise  as  can  be  borne  by  the  mnch-enduring 
ear-drum  of  the  nursery-maid.  Children  think  this  in- 
sensibility of  ear  a  most  valuable  qualification  in  any 
person ;  they  have  no  sympathy  with  more  refined  audi- 
tory nerves,  and  they  prefer  the  company  of  those  who 
are  to  them  the  best  hearers.  A  medium  between  their 
taste  and  that  of  their  parents  should,  in  this  instance, 
be  struck  ;  parents  should  not  insist  upon  eternal  silence, 
and  children  should  not  be  suffered  to  make  mere  noise 
essential  to  their  entertainment.  Children  should  be 
encouraged  to  talk  at  proper  times,  and  should  have  oc- 
cupations provided  for  them  when  they  are  required  to 
be  still ;  by  these  means  it  will  not  be  a  restraint  to 


104  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

them  to  stay  in  the  same  room  with  the  rest  of  the  fam- 
ily for  some  hours  in  the  day.  At  other  times  they 
should  have  free  leave  to  run  about,  either  in  rooms 
where  they  cannot  disturb  others,  or  out  of  doors  ;  in 
neither  case  should  they  be  with  servants.  Children 
A  should  never  be  sent  out  to  walk  with  servants. 

After  they  have  been  poring  over  their  lessons,  or 
stiffening  under  the  eye  of  their  preceptors,  they  are 
frequently  consigned  immediately  to  the  ready  footman ; 
they  cluster  around  him  for  their  hats,  their  gloves,  their 
little  boots  and  whips,  and  all  the  well  known  signals 
of  pleasure.  The  hall  door  bursts  open,  and  they  sally 
forth  under  the  interregnum  of  this  beloved  protector, 
to  enjoy  life  and  liberty  ;  all  the  natural,  and  all  the  fac- 
titious ideas  of  the  love  of  liberty,  are  connected  with 
this  distinct. part  of  the  day;  the  fresh  air — the  green 
fields — the  busy  streets — the  gay  shops — the  variety  of 
objects  which  the  children  see  and  hear — the  freedom 
of  their  tongues — the  joys  of  bodily  exercise,  and  of 
mental  relaxation,  all  conspire  to  make  them  prefer  this 
period  of  the  day,  which  they  spend  with  the  footman, 
to  any  other  in  the  four-and-twenty  hours.  The  foot- 
man sees,  and  is  flattered  by  this  ;  he  is  therefore  assid- 
uous to  please,  and  piques  himself  upon  being  more  in- 
dulgent than  the  hated  preceptor.  Servants  usually 
wish  to  make  themselves  beloved  by  children :  can  it 
be  wondered  at  if  they  succeed,  when  we  consider  the 
power  that  is  thrown  into  their  hands  1 

In  towns,  children  have  no  gardens,  no  place  where 
they  can  take  that  degree  of  exercise  which  is  neces- 
sary for  their  health  ;  this  tempts  their  parents  to  trust 
them  to  servants,  when  they  cannot  walk  with  them 
themselves  :  but  is  there  no  individual  in  the  family, 
neither  tutor,  nor  governess,  nor  friend,  nor  brother, 
nor  sister,  who  can  undertake  this  daily  charge  ?  Can- 
not parents  sacrifice  some  of  their  amusements  in  town, 
or  cannot  they  live  in  the  country?  If  none  of  these 
things  can  be  done,  without  hesitation  they  should  pre- 
fer a  public  to  a  private  education.  In  these  circum- 
stances, they  cannot  educate  their  children  at  home ; 
they  had  much  better  not  attempt  it,  but  send  them  at 
once  to  school. 

In  the  country,  arrangements  may  easily  be  made, 
which  will  preclude  all  those  little  dangers  which  fill  a 
prudent  parent's  mind  with  anxiety.  Here  children 


SERVANTS.  105 

want  the  care  of  no  servant  to  walk  out  with  them ; 
they  can  have  gardens,  and  safe  places  for  exercise 
allotted  to  them.  In  rainy  weather,  they  can  have 
rooms  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  family  ;  they  need  not 
be  cooped  up  in  an  ill-contrived  house,  where  servants 
are  perpetually  in  their  way. 

Attention  to  the  arrangement  of  a  house  is  of  mate- 
rial consequence.  Children's  rooms  should  not  be  pas- 
sage rooms  for  servants  ;  they  should,  on  the  contrary, 
be  so  situated,  that  servants  cannot  easily  have  access 
to  them,  and  cannot,  on  any  pretence  of  business,  get 
the  habit  of  frequenting  them.  Some  fixed  employment 
should  be  provided  for  children,  which  will  keep  them 
in  a  different  part  of  the  house,  at  those  hours  when 
servants  must  necessarily  be  in  their  bedchambers. 
There  will  be  a  great  advantage  in  teaching  children  to 
arrange  their  own  rooms,  because  this  will  prevent  the 
necessity  of  servants  being  for  any  length  of  time  in 
their  apartments ;  their  things  will  not  be  mislaid  ;  their 
playthings  will  not  be  swept  away  or  broken  ;  no  little 
temptations  will  arise  to  ask  questions  from  servants  ; 
all  necessity,  and  all  opportunity  of  intercourse,  will 
thus  be  cut  off.  Children  should  never  be  sent  with 
messages  to  servants,  either  on  their  own  business  or 
on  other  people's  ;  if  they  are  permitted  at  any  times  to 
speak  to  them,  they  will  not  distinguish  what  times  are 
proper  and  what  are  improper. 

Servants  have  so  much  the  habit  of  talking  to  chil- 
dren, and  think  it  such  a  proof  of  good-nature  to  be  in- 
terested about  them,  that  it  will  be  difficult  to  make 
them  submit  to  this  total  silence  and  separation.  The 
certainty  that  they  shall  lose  their  places,  if  they  break 
through  the  regulations  of  the  family,  will,  however,  be 
a  strong  motive,  provided  that  their  places  are  agreea- 
ble and  advantageous ;  and  parents  should  be  absolutely 
strict  in  this  particular.  What  is  the  loss  of  the  service 
of  a  good  groom,  or  a  good  butler,  compared  with  the 
danger  of  spoiling  a  child  *  It  may  be  feared  that  some 
secret  intercourse  should  be  carried  on  between  children 
and  servants ;  but  this  will  be  lessened  by  the  arrange- 
ments in  the  house,  which  we  have  mentioned ;  by  care 
in  a  mother  or  governess,  to  know  exactly  where  chil- 
dren are  and  what  they  are  doing,  every  hour  of  the 
day  ;  this  need  not  to  be  a  daily  anxiety,  for  when  cer- 
tain hours  have  once  been  fixed  for  certain  occupations, 
E3 


106  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

habit  is  our  friend,  and  we  cannot  have  a  safer.  There 
is  this  great  advantage  in  measures  of  precaution  and 
prevention,  that  they  diminish  all  temptation,  at  the 
same  time  that  they  strengthen  the  habits  of  obedience. 
Other  circumstances  will  deter  servants  from  running 
any  hazard  themselves ;  they  will  not  be  so  fond  of  chik 
dren  who  do  not  live  with  them  ;  they  will  consider  them 
as  beings  moving  in  a  different  sphere.  Children  who 
are  at  ease  with  their  parents,  and  happy  in  their  com- 
pany, will  not  seek  inferior  society  ;  this  will  be  attrib- 
uted to  pride  by  servants,  who  will  not  like  them  for 
this  reserve.  So  much  the  better.  Children  who  are 
encouraged  to  converse  about  every  thing  that  interests 
them,  will  naturally  tell  their  mothers  if  any  one  talks 
to  them  ;  a  servant's  speaking  to  them  would  be  an  ex- 
traordinary event  to  be  recorded  in  the  history  of  the 
day.  The  idea  that  it  is  dishonourable  to  tell  tales, 
v  should  never  be  put  into  their  minds  ;  they  will  never 
be  the  spies  of  servants,  nor  should  they  keep  their  se- 
crets. Thus,  as  there  is  no  faith  expected  from  the 
children,  the  servants  will  not  trust  them  ;  they  will  be 
certain  of  detection,  and  will  not  transgress  the  laws. 

It  may  not  be  impertinent  to  conclude  these  minute 
precepts  with  assuring  parents,  that  in  a  numerous  fam- 
ily, where  they  have  above  twenty  years  been  steadily 
observed,  success  has  been  the  uniform  result. 


CHAPTER  V. 

ACQUAINTANCE. 

"  THE  charming  little  dears !"  exclaims  a  civil  ac 
quaintance,  the  moment  the  children  are  introduced. 
"  Won't  you  come  to  me,  love  1"  At  this  question,  per- 
haps, the  bashful  child  backs  towards  its  nurse  or  its 
mother  ;  but  in  vain.  Rejected  at  this  trying  crisis  by 
its  natural  protectors,  it  is  pushed  forward  into  the  mid- 
dle of  the  circle,  and  all  prospect  of  retreat  being  cut 
off,  the  victorious  stranger  seizes  upon  her  little  victim, 
whom  she  seats,  without  a  struggle,  upon  her  lap.  To 
win  the  affections  of  her  captive,  the  lady  begins  by  a 


ACQUAINTANCE.  107 

direct  appeal  to  personal  vanity :  ':  Who  curls  this 
pretty  hair  of  yours,  my  dear  '?  Won't  you  let  me  look 
at  your  nice  new  red  shoes  ?  What  shall  I  give  you  for 
that  fine  colour  in  your  cheeks  ?  Let  us  see  what  we 
can  find  in  my  pocket !" 

Among  the  pocket-bribes,  the  lady  never  fails  to  se- 
lect the  most  useless  trinkets;  the  child  would  make 
a  better  choice ;  for,  if  there  should  appear  a  pocket- 
book,  which  may  be  drawn  up  by  a  riband  from  its  slip 
case,  a  screen  that  would  unfold  gradually  into  a  green 
star,  a  pocket-fan,  or  a  toothpick  case  with  a  spring 
lock,  the  child  would  seize  upon  these  wilh  delight ;  but 
the  moment  its  attention  is  fixed,  it  is  interrupted  by  the 
officious  exclamation  of,  "  Oh,  let  me  do  that  for  you, 
love  !  Let  me  open  that  for  you,  you'll  break  your 
sweet  little  nails.  Ha  !  there  is  a  looking-glass  ;  whose 
pretty  face  is  that  1  but  we  don't  love  people  for  being 
pretty,  you  know  (mamma  says  I  must  not  tell  you 
you  are  pretty) ;  but  we  love  little  girls  for  being  good, 
and  I  am  sure  you  look  as  if  you  were  never  naughty. 
I  am  sure  you  don't  know  what  it  is  to  be  naughty  ;  will 
you  give  me  one  kiss  ?  and  will  you  hold  out  your  pretty 
little  hand  for  some  sugarplums'?  Mamma  shakes  her 
head,  but  mamma  will  not  be  angry,  though  mamma  can 
refuse  you  nothing,  I'll  answer  for  it.  Who  spoils  you  ? 
Whose  favourite  are  you  ^  Who  do  you  love  best  in 
the  world?  And  will  you  love  me  I  And  will  you  come 
and  live  with  me  ?  Shall  I  carry  you  away  with  me  in 
the  coach  to-night  ?  Oh !  but  I'm  afraid  I  should  eat 
you  up,  and  then  what  would  mamma  say  to  us  both  V 

To  stop  this  torrent  of  nonsense,  the  child's  mother, 
perhaps,  ventures  to  interfere  with,  "  My  dear,  I'm 
afraid  you'll  be  troublesome."  But  this  produces  only 
vehement  assertions  to  the  contrary.  "  The  dear  little 
creature  can  never  be  troublesome  to  anybody."  Wo 
be  to  the  child  who  implicitly  believes  this  assertion ! 
frequent  rebuffs  from  his  friends  must  be  endured  before 
this  error  will  be  thoroughly  rectified  :  this  will  not  tend 
to  make  those  friends  more  agreeable  or  more  beloved. 
That  childish  love,  which  varies  from  hour  to  hour,  is 
scarcely  worth  consideration  ;  it  cannot  be  an  object  of 
competition  to  any  reasonable  person ;  but  in  early  edu- 
cation nothing  must  be  thought  beneath  our  attention. 
A  child  does  not  retain  much  affection,  it  is  true,  for 
every  casual  visiter  by  whom  he  is  flattered  and  ca- 


108  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

ressed.  The  individuals  are  here  to-day  arid  gone  to- 
morrow ;  variety  prevents  the  impression  from  sinking 
into  the  mind,  it  may  be  said ;  but  the  general  impression 
remains,  though  each  particular  stroke  is  not  seen. 
Young  children  who  are  much  caressed  in  company, 
are  less  intent  than  others  upon  pleasing  those  they  live 
with,  and  they  are  also  less  independent  in  their  occu- 
pations and  pleasures.  Those  who  govern  such  pupils 
have  not  sufficient  power  over  them,  because  they  have 
not  the  means  of  giving  pleasure ;  because  their  praise 
or  blame  is  frequently  counteracted  by  applause  of  vis- 
iters.  That  unbroken  course  of  experience,  which  is 
necessary  for  the  success  of  a  regular  plan  of  education, 
cannot  be  preserved.  Everybody  may  have  observed 
the  effect  which  the  extraordinary  notice  of  strangers 
produces  upon  children.  After  the  day  is  over,  and  the 
company  has  left  the  house,  there  is  a  cold  blank ;  a 
melancholy  silence.  The  children  then  sink  into  them- 
selves, and  feel  the  mortifying  change  in  their  situation. 
They  look  with  dislike  upon  every  thing  around  them  ; 
yawn  with  ennui,  or  fidget  with  fretfulness,  till,  on  the 
first  check  which  they  meet  with,  their  secret  discon- 
tent bursts  forth  into  a  storm.  Resistance,  caprice,  and 
peevishness,  are  not  borne  with  patience  by  a  gov- 
erness, though  they  are  submitted  to  with  smiles  by  the 
complaisant  visitef.  In  the  same  day,  the  same  conduct 
produces  totally  different  consequences.  Experience, 
it  is  said,  makes  fools  wise  ;  but  such  experience  as  this 
makes  wise  children  fools. 

Why  is  this  farce  of  civility,  which  disgusts  all  parties, 
continually  repeated  between  visiters  and  children] 
Visiters  would  willingly  be  excused  from  the  trouble  of 
flattering  and  spoiling  them ;  but  such  is  the  spell  of 
custom,  that  no  one  dares  to  break  it,  even  when  every 
one  feels  that  it  is  absurd. 

Children  who  are  thought  to  be  clever,  are  often  pro- 
duced to  entertain  company ;  they  fill  up  the  time,  and 
relieve  the  circle  from  that  embarrassing  silence  which 
proceeds  from  the  having  nothing  to  say.  Boys  who 
are  thus  brought  forward  at  six  or  seven  years  old,  and 
encouraged  to  say  what  are  called  smart  things,  seldom, 
as  they  grow  up,  have  really  good  understandings. 
Children,  who,  like  the  fools  in  former  times,  are  per- 
mitted to  say  every  thing,  now  and  then  blurt  out  those 
simple  truths  which  politeness  conceals  :  this  enter- 


ACQUAINTANCE.  109 

tains  people,  but,  in  fact,  it  is  a  sort  of  naivett,  which 
may  exist  without  any  great  talent  for  observation,  and 
without  any  powers  of  reasoning.  Every  thing  in  our 
manners,  in  the  customs  of  the  world,  is  new  to  chil- 
dren, and  the  relations  of  apparently  dissimilar  things, 
strike  them  immediately  from  their  novelty.  Children 
are  often  witty,  without  knowing  it,  or  rather  without 
intending  it ;  but  as  they  grow  older,  the  same  kind  of 
wit  does  not  please  ;  the  same  objects  do  not  appear  in 
the  same  point  of  view ;  and  boys  who  have  been  the 
delight  of  a  whole  house  at  seven  or  eight  years  old,  for 
the  smart  things  they  could  say,  sink  into  stupidity  and 
despondency  at  thirteen  or  fourteen.  "  Un  nom  trop 
fameux,  est  un  fardeau  tres  pesant,"  said  a  cele- 
brated wit. 

Plain,  sober  sense,  does  not  entertain  common  visiters, 
and  children  whose  minds  are  occupied,  and  who  are 
not  ambitious  of  exhibiting  themselves  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  the  company,  will  not  in  general  please. 
So  much  the  better ;  they  will  escape  many  dangers ; 
not  only  the  dangers  of  flattery,  but  also  the  dangers 
of  nonsense.  Few  people  know  how  to  converse  with 
children  ;  they  talk  to  them  of  things  that  are  above  or 
below  their  understandings ;  if  they  argue  with  them, 
they  do  not  reason  fairly  ;  they  silence  them  with  sen- 
timent or  with  authority ;  or  else  they  baffle  them  by 
wit  or  by  unintelligible  terms.  They  often  attempt  to 
try  their  capacities  with  quibbles  and  silly  puzzles. 
Children  who  are  expert  at  answering  these,  have  rarely 
been  well  educated  :  the  extreme  simplicity  of  sensible 
children  will  surprise  those  who  have  not  been  accus- 
tomed to  it,  and  many  will  be  provoked  by  their  in- 
aptitude to  understand  the  commonplace  wit  of  con- 
versation. 

"  How  many  sticks  go  to  a  rook's  nest  V  said  a  gentle- 
man to  a  boy  of  seven  years  old  ;  he  looked  very  grave, 
and  having  pondered  upon  the  question  for  some  min- 
utes, answered  "  I  do  not  know  what  you  mean  by  the 
word  go."  Fortunately  for  the  boy,  the  gentleman  who 
asked  the  question  was  not  a  captious  querist ;  he  per- 
ceived the  good  sense  of  this  answer ;  he  perceived  that 
the  boy  had  exactly  hit  upon  the  ambiguous  word  which 
was  puzzling  to  the  understanding,  and  he  saw  that  this 
showed  more  capacity  than  could  have  been  shown  by 
the  parrying  of  a  thousand  witticisms.  We  have  seen 
10 


HO  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

S ,  a  remarkably  intelligent  boy  of  nine  yeai>  aid, 

stand  with  the  most  puzzled  face  imaginable,  consoler- 
ing  for  a  long  half  hour  the  common  quibble  of  "  There 
was  a  carpenter  who  made  a  door;  he  made  it  too 
large  ;  he  cut  it  and  cut  it,  and  he  cut  it  too  little  ;  he  cut 
it  again,  and  it  fitted."  S showed  very  little  satis- 
faction when  he  at  length  discovered  the  double  mean- 
ing of  the  words  "  too  little  ;"  but  simply  said,  "  I  did 
not  know  that  you  meant  that  the  carpenter  cut  loo  little 
off  the  door." 

"  Which  has  most  legs,  a  horse  or  no  horse  ?"— "  A 
horse  has  more  legs  than  no  horse,"  replied  the  unwary 
child.  "  But,"  continues  the  witty  sophist,  "  a  horse, 
surely,  has  but  four  legs  ;  did  you  ever  see  a  horse  with 
five  legs  1"— "Never,"  says  the  child;  "no  horse  has 
five  legs."—"  Oh,  ho  !"  exclaims  the  entrapper,  "  I  have 
you  now  !  No  horse  has  five  legs,  you  say ;  then  you  must 
acknowledge  that  no  horse  has  more  legs  than  a  horse. 
Therefore,  when  1  asked  you  which  has  most  legs,  a 
horse  or  no  horse,  your  answer,  you  see,  should  have 
been,  no  horse" 

The  famous  dilemma  of  "you  have  what  you  have 
not  lost;  you  have  not  lost  horns;  then  you  have 
horns  ;"  is  much  in  the  same  style  of  reasoning.  Chil- 
dren may  readily  be  taught  to  chop  logic,  and  to  parry 
their  adversaries  technically  in  this  contest  of  false  wit ; 
but  this  will  not  improve  their  understandings,  though  it 
may,  to  superficial  judges,  give  them  the  appearance  of 
great  quickness  of  intellect.  We  should  not,  even  in 
jest,  talk  of  nonsense  to  children,  or  suffer  them  even  to 
hear  inaccurate  language.  If  confused  answers  be 
given  to  their  questions,  they  will  soon  be  content  with 
a  confused  notion  of  things  ;  they  will  be  satisfied  with 
bad  reasoning,  if  they  are  not  taught  to  distinguish  it 
scrupulously  from  what  is  good,  and  to  reject  it  steadily. 
Half  the  expressions  current  in  conversation  have 
merely  a  nominal  value ;  they  represent  no  ideas,  and 
they  pass  merely  by  common  courtesy :  but  the  lan- 
guage of  every  person  of  sense  has  sterling  value ;  it 
cheats  and  puzzles  nobody;  and  even  when  it  is  ad- 
dressed to  children,  it  is  made  intelligible.  No  common 
acquaintance,  who  talks  to  a  child  merely  for  its  own 
amusement,  selects  his  expressions  with  any  care  ;  what 
becomes  of  the  child  afterward  is  no  part  of  his  con- 
cern ;  he  does  not  consider  the  advantage  of  clear  ex- 


ACQUAINTANCE.  Ill 

planations  to  the  understanding,  nor  would  he  be  at  the 
pains  of  explaining  any  thing  thoroughly,  even  if  he 
were  able  to  do  so.  And  how  few  people  are  able  to 
explain  distinctly,  even  when  they  most  wish  to  make 
themselves  understood ! 

The  following  conversation  passed  between  a  learned 
doctor  (formerly)  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  a  boy  of  seven 
years  old. 

Doctor.  So,  sir,  I  see  you  are  very  advanced  already 
in  your  studies.  You  are  quite  expert  at  Latin.  Pray, 
sir,  allow  me  to  ask  you  ;  I  suppose  you  have  heard  of 
Tully's  Offices  ? 

Boy.  Tully's  Offices !     No,  sir. 

Doctor.  No  matter.  You  can,  I  will  venture  to  say, 
solve  me  the  following  question.  It  is  not  very  difficult, 
but  it  has  puzzled  some  abler  casuists,  1  can  tell  you, 
though,  than  you  or  I ;  but  if  you  will  lend  me  your  at- 
tention for  a  few  moments,  I  flatter  myself  I  shall  make 
myself  intelligible  to  you. 

The  boy  began  to  stiffen  at  this  exordium,  but  he 
fixed  himself  in  an  attitude  of  anxious  attention,  and  the 
doctor,  after  having  taken  two  pinches  of  snuff,  pro- 
ceeded : 

"  In  the  Island  of  Rhodes,  there  was  once,  formerly, 
a  great  scarcity  of  provisions,  a  famine  quite  ;  and  some 
merchants  fitted  out  ten  ships  to  relieve  the  Rhodians  ; 
and  one  of  the  merchants  got  into  port  sooner  than  the 
others  ;  and  he  took  advantage  of  this  circumstance  to 
sell  his  goods  at  an  exorbitant  rate,  finding  himself  in 
possession  of  the  market.  The  Rhodians  did  not  know 
that  the  other  ships  laden  with  provisions  were  to  be  in 
the  next  day ;  and  they,  of  course,  paid  this  merchant 
whatsoever  price  he  thought  proper  to  demand.  Now 
the  question  is,  in  morality,  whether  did  he  act  the  part 
of  an  honest  man  in  this  business  by  the  Rhodians  1  Or 
should  he  not  rather  have  informed  them  of  the  nine 
ships  which  were  expected  to  come  with  provisions  to 
the  market  the  ensuing  day  ?" 

The  boy  was  silent,  and  did  not  appear  to  compre- 
hend the  story  or  the  question  in  the  least.  In  telling 
his  story,  the  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne  unluckily  pro- 
nounced the  word  ship  and  ships  in  such  a  manner,  that 
the  child  all  along  mistook  them  for  sheep  and  sheeps ; 
and  this  mistake  threw  every  thing  into  confusion.  Be- 
sides this,  a  number  of  terms  were  made  use  of  which 


112  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

were  quite  new  to  the  boy.  Getting  into  port— being 
in  possession  of  the  market — selling  goods  at  an  ex- 
orbitant rate  ;  together  with  the  whole  mystery  of  buy- 
ing and  selling,  were  as  new  to  him,  and  appeared  to 
him  as  difficult  to  be  understood,  as  the  most  abstract 
metaphysics.  He  did  not  even  know  what  was  meant 
by  the  ships  being  expected  in  the  next  day  ;  and  "  act- 
ing- the  part  of  an  honest  man,"  was  to  him  an  unusual 
mode  of  expression.  The  young  casuist  made  no  hand 
of  this  case  of  conscience  ;  when  at  last  he  attempted 
an  answer,  he  only  exposed  himself  to  the  contempt  of 
the  learned  doctor.  When  he  was  desired  to  repeat  the 
story,  he  made  a  strange  jumble  about  some  people  who 
wanted  to  get  some  sheep,  and  about  one  man  who  got 
in  his  sheep  before  the  other  nine  sheep  ;  but  he  did  not 
know  how  or  why  it  was  wrong  in  him  not  to  tell  of  the 
other  sheep.  Nor  could  he  imagine  why  the  Rhodians 
could  not  get  sheep  without  this  man.  He  had  never 
had  any  idea  of  a  famine.  This  boy's  father,  unwilling 
that  he  should  retire  to  rest  with  his  intellects  in  this 
state  of  confusion,  as  soon  as  the  doctor  had  taken  leave, 
told  the  story  to  the  child  in  different  words,  to  try 
whether  it  was  the  words  or  the  ideas  that  puzzled 
him. 

"  In  the  jEgean  sea,  which  you  saw  the  other  day  in 
the  map,  there  is  an  island,  which  is  called  the  Island 
of  Rhodes.  In  telling  my  story,  I  take  the  opportunity 
to  fix  a  point  in  geography  in  your  memory.  In  the 
jEgean  sea  there  is  an  island  which  is  called  the  Island 
of  Rhodes.  There  was  once  a  famine  in  this  island,  that 
is  to  say,  the  people  had  not  food  enough  to  live  upon, 
and  they  were  afraid  that  they  should  be  starved  to 
death.  Now,  some  merchants,  who  lived  on  the  con- 
tinent of  Greece,  filled  ten  ships  with  provisions,  and 
they  sailed  in  these  vessels  for  the  Island  of  Rhodes. 
It  happened  that  one  of  these  ships  got  to  the  island 
sooner  than  any  of  the  others.  It  was  evening,  and  the 
captain  of  this  ship  knew  that  the  others  could  not 
arrive  until  the  morning.  Now  the  people  of  Rhodes, 
being  extremely  hungry,  were  very  eager  to  buy  the  pro- 
visions which  this  merchant  had  brought  to  sell ;  and  they 
were  ready  to  give  a  great  deal  more  money  for  pro- 
visions than  they  would  have  done,  if  they  had  not  been 
almost  starved.  There  was  not  half  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  food  in  this  one  ship  to  supply  all  the  people  who 


ACQUAINTANCE.  113 

wanted  food ;  and  therefore  those  who  had  money,  and 
who  knew  that  the  merchant  wanted  as  much  money 
as  he  could  get  in  exchange  for  his  provisions,  offered 
to  give  him  a  large  price,  the  price  which  he  asked  for 
them.  Had  these  people  known  that  nine  other  ships 
full  of  provisions  would  arrive  in  the  morning,  they 
would  not  have  been  ready  to  give  so  much  money 
for  food,  because  they  would  not  have  been  so  much 
afraid  of  being  starved ;  and  they  .would  not  have 
known,  that,  in  exchange  for  their  money,  they  could 
have  a  greater  quantity  of  food  the  next  day.  The 
merchant,  however,  did  not  tell  them  that  any  ships 
were  expected  to  arrive,  and  he  consequently  got  a 
great  deal  more  of  their  money  for  his  provisions  than 
he  would  have  done,  if  he  had  told  them  the  fact  which 
he  knew,  and  which  they  did  not  know.  Do  you  think 
that  he  did  right  or  wrong  ?" 

The  child,  who  now  had  rather  more  the  expression 
of  intelligence  in  his  countenance  than  he  had  when 
the  same  question  had  been  put  to  him  after  the  former 
statement  of  the  case,  immediately  answered,  that  he 
"  thought  the  merchant  had  done  wrong ;  that  he  should 
have  told  the  people  that  more  ships  were  to  come  in 
the  morning."  Several  different  opinions  were  given 
afterward  by  other  children,  and  grown  people  who 
were  asked  the  same  question ;  and  what  had  been  an 
unintelligible  story,  was  rendered,  by  a  little  more  skill 
and  patience  in  the  art  of  explanation,  an  excellent  les- 
son, or  rather  exercise  in  reasoning. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  that  a  stranger,  who  sees  a 
child  only  for  a  few  hours,  can  guess  what  he  knows 
and  what  he  does  not  know ;  or  that  he  can  perceive 
the  course  of  his  thoughts,  which  depends  upon  asso- 
ciations over  which  he  has  no  command ;  therefore, 
when  a  stranger,  let  his  learning  and  abilities  be  what 
they  will,  attempts  to  teach  children,  he  usually  puzzles 
them,  and  the  consequences  of  the  confusion  of  mind 
he  creates,  last  sometimes  for  years  :  sometimes  it  in- 
fluences their  moral,  sometimes  their  scientific  reason- 
ing. "  Everybody  but  my  friends,"  said  a  little  girl  of 
six  years  old,  "  tells  me  I  am  very  pretty."  From  this 
contradictory  evidence,  what  must  the  child  have  in- 
ferred 1  The  perplexity  which  some  young  people,  al- 
most arrived  at  the  years  of  discretion,  have  shown  in 
their  first  notions  of  mathematics,  has  been  a  matter  of 


114  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

astonishment  to  those  who  have  attempted  to  teach 
them  :  this  perplexity  has  at  length  been  discovered  to 
arise  from  their  having  early  confounded  in  their  minds 
the  ideas  of  a  triangle  and  an  angle.  In  the  most  com- 
mon modes  of  expression  there  are  often  strange  inac- 
curacies, which  do  not  strike  us,  because  they  are  fa- 
miliar to  us ;  but  children,  who  hear  them  for  the  first 
time,  detect  their  absurdity,  and  are  frequently  anxious 
to  have  such  phrases  explained.  If  they  converse 
much  with  idle  visiters,  they  will  seldom  be  properly 
applauded  for  their  precision,  and  their  philosophic 
curiosity  will  often  be  repressed  by  unmeaning  replies. 
Children  who  have  the  habit  of  applying  to  their 
parents,  or  to  sensible  preceptors,  in  similar  difficulties, 
will  be  somewhat  better  received,  and  will  gain  rather 

more  accurate  information.    S (nine  years  old)  was 

in  a  house  where  a  chimney  was  on  fire  ;  he  saw  a  great 
bustle,  and  he  heard  the  servants  and  people,  as  they 
ran  backwards  and  forwards,  all  exclaim,  that  "  the 
chimney  was  on  fire."  After  the  fire  was  put  out,  and 

when  the  bustle  was  over,  S said  to  his  father, 

"  What  do  people  mean  when  they  say  the  chimney  is 
on  fire  ?  What  is  it  that  burns  ?"  At  this  question,  a 
silly  acquaintance  would  probably  have  laughed  in  the 
boy's  face  ;  would  have  expressed  astonishment  as  soon 
as  his  visit  was  over,  at  such  an  instance  of  strange 
ignorance  in  a  boy  of  nine  years  old  ;  or,  if  civility  had 
prompted  any  answer,  it  would  perhaps  have  been, 
"  The  chimney's  being  on  fire,  my  love,  means  that  the 
chimney's  on  fire  !  Everybody  knows  what's  meant 
by  '  the  chimney's  on  fire !'  There's  a  great  deal  of 
smoke,  and  sparks,  and  flame,  coming  out  at  the  top,  you 
know,  when  the  chimney's  on  fire.  And  it's  extremely 
dangerous,  and  would  set  a  house  on  fire,  or  perhaps 
the  whole  neighbourhood,  if  it  were  not  put  out  imme- 
diately. Many  dreadful  fires,  you  know,  happen  in 
towns,  as  we  hear  for  ever  in  the  newspaper,  by  the 
chimney's  taking  fire.  Did  you  never  hear  of  a  chim- 
ney's being  on  fire  before  1  You  are  a  very  happy  young 
gentleman  to  have  lived  to  your  time  of  life,  and  to  be 
still  at  a  loss  about  such  a  thing.  What  burns  ?  Why, 
my  dear  sir,  the  chimney  burns;  fire  burns  in  the  chim- 
ney. To  be  sure,  fires  are  sad  accidents ;  many  lives 
are  lost  by  them  every  day.  I  had  a  chimney  on  fire  in 
my  drawing-room  last  year." 


ACQUAINTANCE. 


115 


Thus  would  the  child's  curiosity  have  been  baffled  by 
a  number  of  words  without  meaning  or  connexion  ;  on 
the  contrary,  when  he  applied  to  a  father,  who  was  in- 
terested in  his  improvement,  his  sensible  question  was 
listened  to  with  approbation.  He  was  told,  that  the 
chimney's  being  on  fire  was  an  inaccurate  common  ex- 
pression ;  that  it  was  the  soot  in  the  chimney,  not  the 
chimney,  that  burned  ;  that  the  soot  was  sometimes  set 
on  fire  by  sparks  of  fire,  sometimes  by  flame,  which 
might  have  been  accidentally  drawn' up  the  chimney. 
Some  of  the  soot  which  had  been  set  on  fire  was  shown 
to  him  ;  the  nature  of  burning  in  general,  the  manner 
in  which  the  chimney  draws,  the  meaning  of  that  ex- 
pression, and  many  other  things  connected  with  the 
subject,  were  explained  upon  this  occasion  to  the  in- 
quisitive boy,  who  was  thus  encouraged  to  think  and 
speak  accurately,  and  to  apply,  in  similar  difficulties,  to 
the  friend  who  had  thus  taken  the  trouble  to  understand 
his  simple  question.  A  random  answer  to  a  child's 
question  does  him  a  real  injury ;  but  can  we  expect, 
that  those  who  have  no  interest  in  education  should 
have  the  patience  to  correct  their  whole  conversation, 
and  to  adapt  it  precisely  to  the  capacity  of  children  1 
This  would  indeed  be  unreasonable  ;  all  we  can  do  is 
to  keep  our  pupils  out  of  the  way  of  those  who  can  do 
them  no  good,  and  who  may  do  them  a  great  deal  of 
harm.  We  must  prefer  the  permanent -advantage  of 
our  pupils,  to  the  transient  vanity  of  exhibiting,  for  the 
amusement  of  company,  their  early  wit  or  "  lively 
nonsense."  Children  should  never  be  introduced  for 
the  amusement  of  the  circle  ;  nor  yet  should  they  be 
condemned  to  sit  stock  still,  holding  up  their  heads  and 
letting  their  feet  dangle  from  chairs  that  are  too  high 
for  them,  merely  that  they  may  appear  what  is  called 
well  before  visiters.  Whenever  any  conversation  is 
going  forward  which  they  can  understand,  they  should 
be  kindly  summoned  to  partake  of  the  pleasures  of  so- 
ciety ;  its  pains  and  its  follies  we  may  spare  them.  The 
manners  of  young  people  will  not  be  injured  by  this 
arrangement ;  they  will  be  at  ease  in  company,  because 
whenever  they  are  introduced  into  it,  they  will  make  a 
part  of  it;  they  will  be  interested  and  happy;  they  will 
feel  a  proper  confidence  in  themselves,  and  they  will 
not  be  intent  upon  their  courtesies,  their  frocks,  their 
manner  of  holding  their  hands,  or  turning  out  their 


116  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

toes,  the  proper  placing  of  sir,  madam,  or  your  lady- 
ship, with  all  the  other  innumerable  trifles  which  em- 
barrass the  imagination,  and  consequently  the  manners, 
of  those  who  are  taught  to  think  that  they  are  to  sit 
still,  and  behave  in  company  some  way  differently  from 
What  they  behave  every  day  in  their  own  family. 

We  have  hitherto  only  spoken  of  acquaintance  who 
do  not  attempt  or  desire  to  interfere  in  education,  but 
who  only  caress  and  talk  nonsense  to  children  with  the 
best  intentions  possible  :  with  these,  parents  will  find  it 
comparatively  easy  to  manage  ;  they  can  contrive  to 
employ  children,  or  send  them  out  to  walk ;  by  cool  re- 
serve, they  can  readily  discourage  such  visiters  from 
flattering  their  children ;  and  by  insisting  upon  becom- 
ing a  party  in  all  conversations  which  are  addressed  to 
their  pupils,  they  can,  in  a  great  measure,  prevent  the 
bad  effects  of  inaccurate  or  imprudent  conversation ; 
they  can  explain  to  their  pupils  what  was  left  unintel- 
ligible, and  they  can  counteract  false  associations,  either 
at  the  moment  they  perceive  them,  or  at  some  well- 
chosen  opportunity.  But  there  is  a  class  of  acquaint- 
ance with  whom  it  will  be  more  difficult  to  manage ; 
persons  who  are,  perhaps,  on  an  intimate  footing  with 
the  family,  who  are  valued  for  their  agreeable  talents 
and  estimable  qualities ;  who  are,  perhaps,  persons  of 
general  information  and  good  sense,  and  who  may  yet 
never  have  considered  the  subject  of  education ;  or 
who,  having  partially  considered  it,  have  formed  some 
peculiar  and  erroneous  opinions.  They  will  feel  them- 
selves entitled  to  talk  upon  education  as  well  as  upon 
any  other  topic  ;  they  will  hazard,  and  they  will  sup- 
port opinions ;  they  will  be  eager  to  prove  the  truth 
of  their  assertions,  or  the  superiority  of  their  favourite 
theories.  Out  of  pure  regard  for  their  friends,  they  will 
endeavour  to  bring  them  over  to  their  own  way  of 
thinking  in  education ;  and  they  will  by  looks,  by  hints, 
by  innuendoes,  unrestrained  by  the  presence  of  the  chil- 
dren, insinuate  their  advice  an*d  their  judgment  upon 
every  domestic  occurrence.  In  the  heat  of  debate, 
people  frequently  forget  that  children  have  eyes  and 
ears,  or  any  portion  of  understanding  ;  they  are  not 
aware  of  the  quickness  of  that  comprehension  which  is 
excited  by  the  motives  of  curiosity  and  self-love.  It  is 
dangerous  to  let  children  be  present  at  any  arguments, 
in  which  the  management  of  their  minds  is  concerned, 


ACQUAINTANCE.  117 

until  they  can  perfectly  understand  the  whole  of  the 
subject :  they  will,  if  they  catch  but  a  few  words,  or  a 
few  ideas,  imagine,  perhaps,  that  there  is  something 
wrong,  some  hardships,  some  injustice,  practised  against 
them  by  their  friends  ;  yet  they  will  not  distinctly  know, 
nor  will  they,  perhaps,  explicitly  inquire  what  it  is. 
They  should  be  sent  out  of  the  room  before  any  such 
arguments  are  begun;  or,  if  the  conversation  be  ab- 
ruptly begun  before  parents  can  be  upon  their  guard, 
they  may  yet,  without  offending  against  the  common 
forms  of  politeness,  decline  entering  into  any  discussion 
until  their  children  have  withdrawn.  As  to  any  direct 
attempt  practically  to  interfere  with  the  children's  edu- 
cation, by  blame  or  praise,  by  presents,  by  books,  or  by 
conversation ;  these  should,  and  really  must,  be  reso- 
lutely and  steadily  resisted  by  parents  :  this  will  require 
some  strength  of'  mind.  What  can  be  done  without  it  ? 
Many  people,  who  are  convinced  of  the  danger  of  the 
interference  of  friends  and  acquaintance  in  the  educa- 
tion of  their  children,  will  yet,  from  the  fear  of  offending, 
from  the  dread  of  being  thought  singular,  submit  to  the 
evil.  These  persons  may  be  very  well  received  and 
very  well  liked  in  the  world :  they  must  content  them- 
selves with  this  reward  ;  they  must  not  expect  to  suc- 
ceed in  education,  for  strength  of  mind  is  absolutely  ne- 
cessary to  those  who  would  carry  a  plan  of  education 
into  effect.  Without  being  tied  down  to  any  one  exclu- 
sive plan,  and  with  universal  toleration  for  different 
modes  of  moral  a>nd  intellectual  instruction,  it  may  be 
safely  asserted,  that  the  plan  which  is  most  steadily 
pursued  will  probably  succeed  the  best.  People  who 
are  moved  by  the  advice  of  all  their  friends,  and  who 
endeavour  to  adapt  their  system  to  every  fashionable 
change  in  opinion,  will  inevitably  repent  of  their  weak 
complaisance  ;  they  will  lose  all  power  over  their  pupils, 
and  will  be  forced  to  abandon  the  education  of  their 
families  to  chance. 

It  will  be  found  impossible  to  educate  a  child  at  home, 
unless  all  interference  from  visiters  and  acquaintance  is 
precluded.  But  it  is  of  yet  more  consequence,  that  the 
members  of  the  family  should  entirely  agree  in  their  sen- 
timents, or  at  least  in  the  conduct  of  the  children  under 
their  care.  Without  this  there  is  no  hope.  Young 
people  perceive  very  quickly  whether  there  is  unanimity 
in  their  government;  they  make  out  an  alphabet  of  looks 


118  PRACTICAL     KDUCATION. 

with  unerring  precision,  and  decipher  with  amazing  in- 
genuity, all  that  is  for  their  interest  to  understand.  When 
children  are  blamed  or  punished,  they  always  k  no  w  pretty 
wejl  who  pities  them,  who  thinks  that  they  are  in  the 
wrong,  and  who  thinks  that  they  are  in  the  right ;  and  thus 
the  influence  of  public  opinion  is  what  ultimately  governs. 
If  children  find  that,  when  mamma  is  displeased,  grand- 
mamma comforts  them,  they  will  console  themselves 
readily  under  this  partial  disgrace,  and  they  will  suspect 
others  of  caprice,  instead  of  ever  blaming  themselves. 
They  will  feel  little  confidence  in  their  own  experience, 
or  in  the  assertions  of  others  ;  they  will  think  that  there 
is  always  some  chance  of  escape  among  the  multitude 
of  laws  and  lawgivers.  No  tutor  or  preceptor  can  be 
answerable,  or  ought  to  undertake  to  answer  for  measures 
which  he  does  not  guide.  Le  Sage,  with  an  inimitable 
mixture  of  humour  and  good  sense,  in  the  short  history 
of  the  education  of  the  robbers  who  supped  in  that  cave 
in  which  dame  Leonardo  officiated,  has  given  many  ex- 
cellent lessons  in  education.  Captain  Rolando's  tutors 
could  never  make  any  thing  of  him,  because,  whenever 
they  reprimanded  him,  he  ran  to  his  mother,  father,  and 
grandfather,  for  consolation  ;  and  from  them  constantly 
received  protection  in  rebellion,  and  commiseration  for 
the  wounds  which  he  had  inflicted  upon  his  own  hands 
and  face,  purposely  to  excite  compassion  and  to  obtain 
revenge. 

It  is  obviously  impossible,  that  all  the  world,  the  ig- 
norant and  the  well-informed,  the  man  of  genius,  the 
man  of  fashion,  and  the  man  of  business,  the  pedant  and 
the  philosopher,  should  agree  in  their  opinion  upon  any 
speculative  subject ;  upon  the  wide  subject  of  education 
they  will  probably  differ  eternally.  It  will,  therefore, 
be  thought  absurd  to  require  this  union  of  opinion  among 
the  individuals  of  a  family ;  but,  let  there  be  ever  so 
much  difference  in  their  private  opinions,  they  can 
surely  discuss  any  disputed  point  at  leisure,  when  chil- 
dren are  absent ;  or  they  can,  in  these  arguments,  con- 
verse in  French,  or  in  some  language  which  their  pupils 
do  not  understand.  The  same  caution  should  be  ob- 
served, as  we  just  now  recommended,  with  respect  to 
acquaintance.  It  is  much  better,  when  any  difficulties 
occur,  to  send  the  children  at  once  into  any  other  room, 
and  to  tell  them  that  we  do  so  because  we  have  some- 
thing to  say  that  we  do  not  wish  them  to  hear,  than  to 


ACQUAINTANCE.  119 

make  false  excuses  to  get  rid  of  their  company,  or  to 
begin  whispering  and  disputing  in  their  presence. 

These  precautions  are  advisable  while  our  pupils  are 
young,  before  they  are  capable  of  comprehending  argu- 
ments of  this  nature,  and  while  their  passions  are  vehe- 
mently interested  on  one  side  or  the  other.  As'  young 
people  grow  up,  the  greater  variety  of  opinions  they 
hear  upon  all  subjects,  the  better ;  they  will  then  form 
the  habit  of  judging  for  themselves :  .  while  they  are 
very  young,  they  have  not  the  means  of  forming  correct 
judgments  upon  abstract  subjects,  nor  are  these  the  sub- 
jects upon  which  their  judgment  can  be  properly  exer- 
cised :  upon  the  subject  of  education  they  cannot  be 
competent  judges,  because  they  cannot,  till  they  are 
nearly  educated,  have  a  complete  view  of  the  means 
or  of  the  end  ;  besides  this,  no  man  is  allowed  to  be 
judge  in  his  own  case. 

Some  parents  allow  their  children  a  vast  deal  of 
liberty  while  they  are  young,  and  restrain  them  by  ab- 
solute authority  when  their  reason  is,  or  ought  to  be,  a 
sufficient  guide  for  their  conduct.  The  contrary  prac- 
tice will  make  parents  much  more  beloved,  and  will 
make  children  both  wiser  and  happier.  Let  no  idle 
visiter,  no  intrusive,  injudicious  friend,  for  one  moment 
interfere  to  lessen  the  authority  necessary  for  the  pur- 
poses of  education.  Let  no  weak  jealousy,  no  unsea- 
sonable love  of  command,  restrain  young  people  after 
they  are  sufficiently  reasonable  to  judge  for  themselves. 
In  the  choice  of  their  friends,  their  acquaintance,  in  all 
the  great  and  small  affairs  of  life,  let  them  have  liberty 
in  proportion  as  they  acquire  reason.  Fathers  do  not 
commonly  interfere  with  their  sons'  amusements,  nor 
with  the  choice  of  their  acquaintance,  so  much  as  in  the 
regulation  of  their  pecuniary  affairs  :  but  mothers,  who 
have  had  any  considerable  share  in  the  education  of 
boys,  are  apt  to  make  mistakes  as  to  the  proper  seasons 
for  indulgence  and  control.  They  do  not  watch  the 
moments  when  dangerous  prejudices  and  tastes  begin 
to  be  formed  ;  they  do  not  perceive  how  the  slight  con- 
versations of  acquaintance  operate  upon  the  ever-open 
ear  of  childhood ;  but  when  the  age  of  passion  ap- 
proaches, and  approaches,  as  it  usually  does,  in  storms 
and  tempest,  then  all  their  maternal  fears  are  suddenly 
roused,  and  their  anxiety  prompts  them  to  use  a  thou 
sand  injudicious  and  ineffectual  expedients. 


120  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

A  modern  princess,  who  had  taken  considerable  pains 
in  the  education  of  her  son,  made  both  herself  and  him 
ridiculous  by  her  anxiety  upon  his  introduction  into  the 
world.  She  travelled  about  with  him  from  place  to 
place,  to  make  him  see  every  thing  worth  seeing  ;  but  he 
was  not*  to  stir  from  her  presence ;  she  could  not  bear 
to  have  him  out  of  sight  or  hearing.  In  all  companies 
he  was  chaperoned  by  his  mother.  Was  he  invited  to  a 
ball,  she  must  be  invited  also,  or  he  could  not  accept  of 
the  invitation :  he  must  go  in  the  same  coach,  and  re- 
turn in  the  same  coach  with  her.  "  I  should  like  ex- 
tremely to  dance  another  dance,"  said  he  one  evening 
to  his  partner,  "  but  you  see  I  must  go  ;  my  mother  is 
putting  on  her  cloak."  The  tall  young  man  called  for 
some  negus,  and  had  the  glass  at  his  lips,  when  his 
mamma  called  out  in  a  shrill  voice,  through  a  vista  of 
heads,  "  Eh  !  My  son  no  drink  wine !  My  son  like 
milk  and  water !"  The  son  was  at  this  time  at  years 
of  discretion. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ON   TEMPER. 

WE  have  already,  in  speaking  of  the  early  care  of 
infants,  suggested  that  the  temper  should  be  attended 
to  from  the  moment  of  their  birth.  A  negligent,  a  care- 
less, a  passionate  servant,  must  necessarily  injure  the 
temper  of  a  child.  The  first  language  of  an  infant  is 
intelligible  only  to  its  nurse ;  she  can  distinguish  be- 
tween the  cry  of  pain  and  the  note  of  ill-humour,  or  the 
roar  of  passion.  The  cry  of  pain  should  be  listened 
to  with  the  utmost  care,  and  every  possible  means 
should  be  used  to  relieve  the  child's  sufferings;  but 
when  it  is  obvious  that  he  cries  from  ill-humour,  a  nurse 
should  not  sooth  him  with  looks  of  affection ;  these  she 
should  reserve  for  the  moment  when  the  storm  is  over. 
We  do  not  mean  that  infants  should  be  suffered  to  cry 
for  a  length  of  time  without  being  regarded  ;  this  would 
give  them  habits  of  ill-humour  :  we  only  wish  that  the 
nurse  would,  as  soon  as  possible,  teach  the  child  that 


TKMPfcR.  121 

what  he  wants  can  be  obtained  without  his  putting  him- 
self in  a  passion.  Great  care  should  be  taken  to  pre- 
vent occasions  for  ill-humour ;  if  a  nurse  neglect  her 
charge,  or  if  she  be  herself  passionate,  the  child  will  suf- 
fer so  much  pain,  and  so  many  disappointments,  that  it 
must  be  in  a  continual  state  of  fretfulness.  An  active, 
cheerful,  good-humoured,  intelligent  nurse,  will  make 
a  child  good-humoured  by  a  regular,  affectionate  at- 
tendance ;  by  endeavouring  to  prevent  all  unnecessary 
sufferings,  and  by  quickly  comprehending  its  language 
of  signs.  The  best  humoured  woman  in  the  world,  if 
she  is  stupid,  is  not  fit  to  have  the  care  of  a  child ;  the 
child  will  not  be  able  to  make  her  understand  any  thing 
less  than  vociferation.  By  way  of  amusing  the  infant, 
she  will  fatigue  it  with  he'r  caresses  ;  without  ever  dis- 
covering the  real  cause  of  his  wo,  she  will  sing  one 
universal  lullaby  upon  all  occasions  to  pacify  her  charge. 

It  requires  some  ingenuity  to  discover  the  cause  and 
cure  of  those  long  and  loud  fits  of  crying,  which  fre- 
quently arise  from  imaginary  apprehensions.  A  little 
boy  of  two  years  old  used  to  cry  violently  when  he 
awoke  in  the  middle  of  the  night  and  saw  a  candle  in 
the  room.  It  was  observed  that  the  shadow  of  the  per- 
son who  was  moving  about  in  the  room  frightened  him, 
and  as  soon  as  the  cause  of  his  crying  was  found  out, 
it  was  easy  to  pacify  him ;  his  fear  of  shadows  was  ef- 
fectually cured,  by  playfully  showing  him,  at  different 
times,  that  shadows  had  no  power  to  hurt  him. 

H ,  about  nine  months  old,  when  she  first  began  to 

observe  the  hardness  of  bodies,  let  her  hand  fall  upon  a 
cat  which  had  crept  unperceived  upon  the  table ;  she 
was  surprised  and  terrified  by  the  unexpected  sensation 
of  softness ;  she  could  not  touch  the  cat,  or  any  thing 
that  felt  like  soft  fur,  without  showing  agitation,  till  she 
was  near  four  years  old,  though  every  gentle  means 
was  used  to  conquer  her  antipathy  ;  the  antipathy  was, 
however,  cured  at  last,  by  her  having  a  wooden  cat  cov- 
ered with  fur  for  a  plaything. 

A  boy  between  four  and  five  years  old,  H ,  used 

to  cry  bitterly  when  he  was  left  alone  in  a  room,  in 
which  there  were  some  old  family  pictures.  It  was 
found  that  he  was  much  afraid  of  these  pictures;  a 
maid,  who  took  care  of  him,  had  terrified  him  with  the 
notion  that  they  would  come  to  him,  or  that  they  were 
looking  at  him,  and  would  be  angry  with  him  if  he  were 
11 


122  PRACTICAL     KOI/CATION. 

not  good.  To  cure  the  child  of  this  fear  of  pictures,  a 
small-sized  portrait,  which  was  not  among  the  number 
of  those  that  had  frightened  him,  was  produced  in  broad 
daylight.  A  piece  of  cake  was  put  upon  this  picture, 
which  the  boy  was  desired  to  take  ;  he  took  it,  touched 
the  picture,  and  was  shown  the  canvass  at  the  back  of 
it ;  which,  as  it  happened  to  be  torn,  he  could  easily  iden- 
tify with  the  painting :  the  picture  was  then  given  to  him 
for  a  plaything ;  he  made  use  of  it  as  a  table,  and  became 
very  fond  of  it  as  soon  as  he  was  convinced  that  it  was 
not  alive,  and  that  it  could  do  him  no  sort  of  injury. 

By  patiently  endeavouring  to  discover  the  causes  of 
terror  in  children,  we  may  probably  prevent  their  tem- 
pers from  acquiring  many  bad  habits.  It  is  scarcely 
possible  for  any  one  who  has  not  constantly  lived  with 
a  child,  and  who'has  not  known  the  whole  rise  and  prog- 
ress of  his  little  character,  to  trace  the  causes  of  these 
strange  apprehensions  ;  for  this  reason,  a  parent  has 
advantages  in  the  education  of  his  child,  which  no  tutor 
or  schoolmaster  can  have. 

A  little  boy  was  observed  to  show  signs  of  fear  and 
dislike  at  hearing  the  sound  of  a  drum :  to  a  stranger, 
such  fear  must  have  seemed  unaccountable ;  but  those 
who  lived  with  the  child  knew  from  what  it  arose. 
He  had  been  terrified  by  the  sight  of  a  merry-andrew  in 
a  mask,  who  had  played  upon  a  drum ;  this  was  the 
first  time  that  he  had  ever  heard  the  sound  of  a  drum  ; 
the  sound  was  associated  with  fear,  and  continued  to 
raise  apprehensions  in  the  child's  mind  after  he  had  for- 
gotten the  original  cause  of  that  apprehension. 

We  are  well  aware  that  we  have  laid  ourselves  open 
to  ridicule,  by  the  apparently  trifling  anecdotes  which 
have  just  been  mentioned ;  but  if  we  can  save  one  child 
from  an  hour's  unnecessary  misery,  or  one  parent  from 
an  hour's  anxiety,  we  shall  bear  the  laugh,  we  hope, 
with  good-humour. 

Young  children,  who  have  not  a  great  number  of 
ideas,  perhaps  for  that  reason  associate  those  which 
they  acquire  with  tenacity ;  they  cannot  reason  con- 
cerning general  causes ;  they  expect  that  any  event, 
which  has  once  or  twice  followed  another,  will  always 
follow  in  the  same  order ;  they  do  not  distinguish  be- 
tween proximate  and  remote  causes  ;  between  coinci- 
dences and  the  regular  connexion  of  cause  and  effect : 
hence  children  are  subject  to  feel  hopes  and  fears  from 


TEMPER.  123 

things  which  to  us  appear  matters  of  indifference.  Sup- 
pose, for  instance,  that  a  child  is  very  eager  to  go  out 
to  walk,  that  his  mother  puts  on  her  gloves  and  her 
cloak,  these  being  the  usual  signals  that  she  is  going 
out,  he  instantly  expects,  if  he  has  been  accustomed  to 
accompany  her,  that  he  shall  have  the  pleasure  of  walk- 
ing out. ;  but  if  she  goes  out  and  forgets  him,  he  is  not 
only  disappointed  at  that  moment,  but  the  disappoint- 
ment, or,  at  least,  some  indistinct  apprehension,  recurs 
to  him  when  he  is  in  a  similar  situation  :  the  putting  on 
of  his  mother's  cloak  and  gloves  are  then  circumstances 
of  vast  importance  to  him,  and  create  anxiety,  perhaps 
tears,  while  to  every  other  spectator  they  are  matters 
of  total  indifference.  Every  one,  who  has  had  any  ex- 
perience in  the  education  of  such  children  as  are  apt  to 
form  strong  associations,  must  be  aware,  that  many  of 
those  fits  of  crying,  which  appear  to  arise  solely  from  ill- 
humour,  are  occasioned  by  association.  When  these 
are  suffered  to  become  habitual,  they  are  extremely  dif- 
ficult to  conquer:  it  is,  therefore,  best  to  conquer  them 
as  soon  as  possible.  If  a  child  has,  by  any  accident, 
been  disposed  to  cry  at  particular  times  in  the  day,  with- 
out any  obvious  cause,  we  should  at  those  hours  engage 
his  attention,  occupy  him,  change  the  room  he  is  in,  or 
by  any  new  circumstance  break  his  habits.  It  will  re- 
quire some  penetration  to  distinguish  between  involun- 
tary tears  and  tears  of  caprice  ;  but  even  when  children 
are  really  cross,  it  is  not,  while  they  are  very  young, 
prudent  to  let  them  wear  out  their  ill- humour,  as  some 
people  do,  in  total  neglect.  Children,  when  they  are 
left  to  weep  in  solitude,  often  continue  in  wo  for  a  con- 
siderable length  of  time,  until  they  quite  forget  the 
original  cause  of  complaint ;  and  they  continue  their 
convulsive  sobs  and  whining  note  of  distress,  purely 
from  inability  to  stop  themselves. 

Thus  habits  of  ill-humour  are  contracted :  it  is  better, 
by  a  little  well-timed  excitation,  to  turn  the  course  of  a 
child's  thoughts,  and  to  make  him  forget  his  trivial  mis- 
eries. "  The  tear  forgot  as  soon  as  shed,"  is  far  better 
than  the  peevish  whine,  or  sullen  lowering  brow,  which 
proclaim  the  unconquered  spirit  of  discontent. 

Perhaps  from  the  anxiety  which  we  have  expressed 

to  prevent  the  petty  misfortunes  and  unnecessary  tears 

of  children,  it  may  be  supposed  that  we  are  disposed  to 

humour  them  ;  far  from  it. — We  know  too  well  that  a 

F  2 


124"  PRACTICAL     EDUCATION. 

humoured  child  is  one  of  the  most  unhappy  beings  in  the 
world;  a  burden  to  himself  and  to  his  friends;  capri- 
cious, tyrannical,  passionate,  peevish,  sullen,  and  selfish. 

An  only  child  runs  a  dreadful  chance  of  being  spoiled. 
He  is  born  a  person  of  consequence  ;  he  soon  discovers 
his  innate  merit ;  every  eye  is  turned  upon  him  the  mo- 
ment he  enters  the  room  ;  his  looks,  his  dress,  his  appe- 
tite, are  all  matters  of  daily  concern  to  a  whole  family ; 
his  wishes  are  divined ;  his  wants  are  prevented  ;  his 
witty  sayings  are  repeated  in  his  presence  ;  his  smiles 
are  courted ;  his  caresses  excite  jealousy,  and  he  soon 
learns  how  to  avail  himself  of  his  central  situation.  His 
father  and  mother  make  him  alternately  their  idol  and 
their  plaything ;  they  do  not  think  of  educating,  they 
only  think  of  admiring  him  ;  they  imagine  that  he  is  un- 
like all  other  children  in  the  universe,  and  that  his 
genius  and  his  temper  are  independent  of  all  cultivation. 
But  when  this  little  paragon  of  perfection  has  two  or 
three  brothers  and  sisters,  the  scene  changes  ;  the  man 
of  consequence  dwindles  into  an  insignificant  little  boy. 
We  shall  hereafter  explain  more  fully  the  danger  of  ac- 
customing children  to  a  large  share  of  our  sympathy; 
we  hope  that  the  economy  of  kindness  and  caresses 
which  we  have  recommended,*  will  be  found  to  in- 
crease domestic  affection,  and  to  be  essentially  servicea- 
ble to  the  temper.  In  a  future  chapter,  "  On  Vanity, 
Pride,  and  Ambition,"  some  remarks  will  be  found  on 
the  use  and  abuse  of  the  stimuli  of  praise,  emulation, 
and  ambition.  The  precautions  which  we  have  already 
mentioned  with  respect  to  servants,  and  the  methods 
that  have  been  suggested  for  inducing  habitual  and  ra- 
tional obedience,  will  also,  we  hope,  be  considered  as 
serviceable  to  the  temper,  as  well  as  to  the  understand- 
ing. Perpetual  and  contradictory  commands  and  pro- 
hibitions not  only  make  children  disobedient,  but  fretful, 
peevish,  and  passionate. 

Idleness  among  children,  as  among  men,  is  the  root 
of  all  evil,  and  leads  to  no  evil  more  certainly  than  to 
ill-temper.  It  is  said,f  that  the  late  king  of  Spain  was 
always  so  cross  during  Passion-week,  when  he  was 
obliged  to  abstain  from  his  favourite  amusement  of 
hunting,  that  none  of  his  courtiers  liked  to  approach  his 

*  See  Chapter  on  Sympathy  and  Sensibility, 
t  By  Mr.  Townsend.  in  his  Travels  into  Spain, 


TEMPFR.  125 

majesty.  There  is  a  great  similarity  between  the  con- 
dition of  a  prince  flattered  by  his  courtiers,  and  a  child 
humoured  by  his  family ;  and  we  may  observe,  that  both 
the  child  and  prince  are  most  intolerable  to  their  de- 
pendants and  friends,  when  any  of  their  daily  amuse- 
ments are  interrupted.  It  is  not  that  the  amusements 
are  in  themselves  delightful,  but  the  pains  and  penalties 
of  idleness  are  insupportable.  We  have  endeavoured 
to  provide  a  variety  of  occupations,  as  well  as  of  amuse- 
ments, for  our  young  pupils,*  that  they  may  never  know 
the  misery  of  the  Spanish  monarch.  When  children 
are  occupied,  they  are  independent  of  other  people  ;  they 
are  not  obliged  to  watch  for  casual  entertainment  from 
those  who  happen  to  be  unemployed,  or  who  chance  to 
be  in  a  humour  to  play  with  them ;  they  have  some 
agreeable  object  continually  in  view,  and  they  feel  satis- 
fied with  themselves.  They  will  not  torment  every- 
body in  the  house  with  incessant  requests.  "  May  I 
have  this  1  Will  you  give  me  that  ]  May  I  go  out  to  see 
such  a  thing  1  When  will  it  be  dinner-time  1  When  will 
it  be  tea-time  ?  When  will  it  be  time  for  me  to  go  to 
supper  V  are  the  impatient  questions  of  a  child  who  is 
fretful  from  having  nothing  to  do.  Idle  children  are 
eternal  petitioners,  and  the  refusals  they  meet  with  per- 
petually irritate  their  temper.  With  respect  to  requests 
in  general,  we  should  either  grant  immediately  what  a 
child  desires,  or  we  should  give  a  decided  refusal.  The 
state  of  suspense  is  not  easily  borne  ;  the  propriety  or 
impropriety  of  the  request  should  decide  us  either  to 
grant  or  to  refuse  it ;  and  we  should  not  set  the  exam- 
ple of  caprice,  or  teach  our  pupils  the  arts  of  courtiers, 
who  watch  the  humour  of  tyrants.  If  we  happen  to  be 
busy,  and  a  child  comes  with  an  eager  request  about 
some  trifle,  it  is  easy  so  far  to  command  our  temper  as 
to  answer,  "I  am  busy,  don't  talk  to  me  now,"  instead 
of  driving  the  petitioner  away  with  harsh  looks,  and  a 
peremptory  refusal,  which  make  as  great  an  impression 
as  harsh  words.  If  we  are  reasonable,  the  child  will 
soon  learn  to  apply  to  us  at  proper  times.  By  the  same 
steady,  gentle  conduct,  we  may  teach  him  to  manage 
his  love  of  talking  with  discretion,  and  may  prevent 
those  ineffectual  exhortations  to  silence,  which  irritate 
the  temper  of  the  vivacious  pupil.  Expostulations,  and 

*  See  Chapter  on  Toys. 


126  PRACTICAL  KDUCATfON. 

angry  exclamations,  will  not  so  effectually  command 
from  our  pupils  temperance  of  tongue,  as  their  own  con- 
viction that  they  are  more  likely  to  gain  attention  from 
their  friends,  if  they  choose  properly  their  seasons  for 
conversation. 

To  prevent,  we'cannot  too  often  repeat  it,  is  better 
than  to  punish,  without  humouring  children ;  that  is  to 
say,  without  yielding  to  their  caprices,  or  to  their  ivill, 
when  they  express  their  wishes  with  impatience,  we 
may  prevent  many  of  those  little  inconveniences  which 
tease  and  provoke  the  temper ;  any  continual  irritation 
exhausts  pur  patience ;  acute  pain  can  be  endured  with 
more  fortitude. 

We  have  sometimes  seen  children  become  fretful 
from  the  constant  teasing  effect  of  some  slight  incon- 
veniences in  their  dress  ;  we  have  pitied  poor  little  boys 
who  were  continually  exhorted  to  produce  their  hand- 
kerchiefs, and  who  could  scarcely  ever  get  these  hand- 
kerchiefs out  of  their  tight  pockets  into  which  they  had 
been  stuffed;  into  such  pockets  the  hand  can  never 
enter  or  withdraw  itself,  without  as  much  difficulty  as 
Trenck  had  in  getting  rid  of  his  handcuffs.  The  torture 
of  tight  shoes,  of  back-boards,  collars,  and  stocks,  we 
hope,  is  nearly  abandoned ;  surely  all  these  are  unneces- 
sary trials  of  fortitude ;  they  exhaust  that  patience 
which  might  be  exercised  upon  things  of  consequence. 
Count  Rumford  tells  us  that  he  observed  a  striking  me- 
lioration in  the  temper  of  all  the  mendicants  in  the  es- 
tablishment at  Munich,  when  they  were  relieved  from 
the  constant  torments  of  rags  and  vermin. 

Some  people  imagine  that  early  sufferings,  that  a 
number  of  small  inconveniences,  habitual  severity  of 
reproof,  and  frequent  contradiction  and  disappointment, 
inure  children  to  pain,  and  consequently  improve  their 
temper.  Early  sufferings  which  are  necessary  and  in- 
evitable, may  improve  children  in  fortitude  ;  but  the  con- 
tradictions and  disappointments  which  arise  immediately 
from  the  will  of  others,  have  not  the  same  effect.  Chil- 
dren, where  their  own  interests  are  concerned,  soon  dis- 
tinguish between  these  two  classes  of  evils ;  they  sub- 
mit patiently  when  they  know  that  it  would  be  in  vain 
to  struggle  ;  they  murmur  and  rebel,  if  they  dare,  when- 
ever they  feel  the  hand  of  power  press  upon  them  ca- 
priciously. We  should  not  invent  trials  of  temper  for 


TKMPRR.  127 

our  pupils  ;  if  they  can  bear  with  good  humour  the  com- 
mon course  of  events,  we  should  be  satisfied. 

"  I  tumbled  down,  and  I  bored  it  very  well,"  said  a 
little  boy  -of  three  years  old,  with  a  look  of  great  satis- 
faction. If  this  little  boy  had  been  thrown  down  on  pur- 
pose by  his  parents  as  a  trial  of  temper,  it  probably 
would  not  have  been  borne  so  well.  As  to  inconveni- 
ences, in  general  it  is  rather  a  sign  of  indolence  than  a 
proof  of  good  temper  in  children  to  submit  to  them 
quietly ;  if  they  can  be  remedied  by  exertion,  why 
should  they  be  passively  endured  ?  If  they  cannot  be 
remedied,  undoubtedly  it  is  then  better  to  abstract  the 
attention  from  them  as  much  as  possible,  because  this 
is  the  only  method  of  lessening  the  pain.  Children 
should  be  assisted  in  making  this  distinction,  by  our  ap- 
plauding their  exertions  when  they  struggle  against  un- 
necessary evil,  by  our  commending  their  patience 
whenever  they  endure  inevitable  pain  without  com- 
plaints. 

Illness,  for  instance,  is  an  inevitable  evil.  To  prevent 
children  from  becoming  .peevish  when  they  are  ill,  we 
should  give  our  pity  and  sympathy  with  an  increased 
appearance  of  affection  whenever  they  bear  their  illness 
with  patience.  No  artifice  is  necessary  ;  we  need  not 
affect  any  increase  of  pity ;  patience  and  good-humour 
in  the  sufferer  naturally  excite  the  affection  and  esteem 
of  the  spectators.  The  self-complacency  which  the 
young  patient  must  feel  from  a  sense  of  his  own  forti- 
tude, and  the  perception  that  he  commands  the  willing 
hearts  of  all  who  attend  him,  are  really  alleviations  of 
his  bodily  sufferings;  the  only  alleviations  which,  in 
some  cases,  can  possibly  be  afforded. 

The  attention  which  is  thought  necessary  in  learning 
languages,  often  becomes  extremely  painful  to  the  pu- 
pils, and  the  temper  is  often  hurt  by  ineffectual  attempts 
to  improve  the  understanding.  We  have  endeavoured 
to  explain  the  methods  of  managing*  the  attention  of 
children  with  the  least  possible  degree  of  pain.  Yester- 
day a  little  boy  of  three  years  old,  W ,  was  learning 

his  alphabet  from  his  father ;  after  he  had  looked  at  one 
letter  for  some  time  with  great  attention,  he  raised  his 
eyes,  and  with  a  look  of  much  good-humour, said  to  his  fa- 
ther, "  It  makes  me  tired  to  stand."  His  father  seated  him 

*  See  Chapter  on  Attention. 


* 


128  PRACTICAL     EDUCATION. 

upon  his  knee,  and  told  him  that  he  did  wisely  in  telling 
what  tired  him  :  the  child,  the  moment  he  was  seated, 
fixed  his  attentive  eyes  again  upon  his  letters  with  fresh 
eagerness,  and  succeeded.  Surely  it  was  not  humour- 
ing this  boy  to  let  him  sit  down  when  he  was  tired.  If 
we  teach  a  child  that  our  assistance  is  to  be  purchased 
by  fretful  entreaties  ;  if  we  show  him  that  we  are  afraid 
of  a  storm, he  will  make  use  of  our  apprehensions  to  ac- 
complish his  purposes.  On  the  contrary,  if  he  perceive 
that  we  can  steadily  resist  his  tears  and  ill-humour,  and 
especially  if  we  show  indifference  upon  the  occasion, 
he  will  perceive  that  he  had  better  dry  his  tears,  sus- 
pend his  rage,  and  try  how  far  good-humour  will  pre- 
vail. Children  who  in  every  little  difficulty  are  assisted 
by  others,  really  believe  that  others  are  in  fault  when- 
ever this  assistance  is  not  immediately  offered.  Look 
at  a  humoured  child,  for  instance,  trying  to  push  a  chair 
along  the  carpet ;  if  a  wrinkle  in  the  carpet  stops  his 
progress,  he  either  beats  the  chair,  or  instantly  turns 
with  an  angry  appealing  look  to  his  mother  for  assist- 
ance ;  and  if  she  do  not  get  up  to  help  him,  he  will 
cry.  Another  boy,  who  has  not  been  humoured,  will 
neither  beat  the  chair  nor  angrily  look  round  for  help  ; 
but  he  will  look  immediately  to  see  what  it  is  that  stops 
the  chair,  and  when  he  sees  the  wrinkle  in  the  carpet, 
he  will  either  level  or  surmount  the  obstacle :  during 
this  whole  operation,  he  will  not  feel  in  the  least  inclined 
to  cry.  Both  these  children  might  have  had  precisely 
the  same  original  stock  of  patience ;  but  by  different 
management,  the  one  would  become  passionate  and 
peevish,  the  other  both  good-humoured  and  persevering. 
The  pleasure  of  success  pays  children,  as  well  as  men, 
for  long  toil  and  labour.  Success  is  the  proper  reward 
of  perseverance ;  but  if  we  sometimes  capriciously 
grant,  and  sometimes  refuse  our  help,  our  pupils  can- 
not learn  this  important  truth ;  and  they  imagine  that 
success  depends  upon  the  will  of  others,  and  not  upon 
their  own  efforts.  A  child  educated  by  a  fairy,  who 
sometimes  came  with  magic  aid  to  perform,  and  who 
was  sometimes  deaf  to  her  call,  would  necessarily  be- 
come ill-humoured. 

Several  children,  who  were  reading  "  Evenings  at 
Home,"  observed  that  in  the  story  of  Juliet  and  the  fairy 
Order,  "  it  was  wrong  to  make  the  fairy  come  whenever 
Juliet  cried,  and  could  not  do  her  task,  because  that  was 


TEMPER.  129 

the  way,"  said  the  children,  "  to  make  the  little  girl  ill- 
humoured." 

We  have  formerly  observed  that  children  who  live 
much  with  companions  of  their  own  age,  are  under  but 
little  habitual  restraint  as  to  their  tempers  ;  they  quar- 
rel, fight,  and  shake  hands ;  they  have  long  and  loud 
altercations,  in  which  the  strongest  voice  often  gets  the 
better.  It  does  not  improve  the  temper  to  be  overborne 
by  petulance  and  clamour  :  even  mild,- sensible  children, 
will  learn  to  be  positive,  if  they  converse  with  violent 
dunces.  In  private  families,  where  children  mix  in  the 
society  of  persons  of  different  ages,  who  encourage 
them  to  converse  without  reserve,  they  may  meet  with 
exact  justice  ;  they  may  see  that  their  respective  talents 
and  good  qualities  are  appreciated ;  they  may  acquire 
the  habit  of  arguing  without  disputing ;  and  they  may 
learn  that  species  of  mutual  forbearance  in  trifles,  as 
well  as  in  matters  of  consequence,  which  tends  so  much 
to  domestic  happiness.  Dr  Franklin,  in  one  of  his  let- 
ters to  a  young  female  friend,  after  answering  some 
questions  which  she  had  asked  him,  apparently  referring 
to  an  argument  which  had  passed  some  time  before, 
concludes  with  this  comprehensive  compliment :  "  So, 
you  see,  I  think  you  had  the  best  of  the  argument;  and, 
as  you  gave  it  up  in  complaisance  to  the  company,  I 
think  you  had  also  the  best  of  the  dispute"  When 
young  people  perceive  that  they  gain  credit  by  keep- 
ing their  temper  in  conversation,  they  will  not  be 
furious  for  victory,  because  moderation  during  the  time 
of  battle  can  alone  entitle  them  to  the  honours  of  a. 
triumph. 

It  is  particularly  necessary  for  girls  to  acquire  com- 
mand of  temper  in  arguing,  because  much  of  the  effect 
of  their  powers  of  reasoning,  and  of  their  wit,  when  they 
grow  up,  will  depend  upon  the  gentleness  and  good-hu- 
mour with  which  they  conduct  themselves.  A  woman 
who  should  attempt  to  thunder  like  Demosthenes,  would 
not  find  her  eloquence  increase  her  domestic  happiness. 
We  by  no  means  wish  that  women  should  yield  their 
better  judgment  to  their  fathers  or  husbands  ;  but,  with- 
out using  any  of  that  debasing  cunning  which  Rousseau 
recommends,  they  may  support  the  cause  of  reason 
with  all  the  graces  of  female  gentleness. 

A  man  in  a  furious  passion  is  terrible  to  his  enemies; 
but  a  woman  in  a  passion  is  disgusting  to  her  friends ; 
F  3 


130  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

she  loses  the  respect  due  to  her  sex,  and  she  has  not 
masculine  strength  and  courage  to  enforce  any  other 
species  of  respect.  These  circumstances  should  be 
considered  by  writers  who  advise  that  no  difference 
should  be  made  in  the  education  of  the  two  sexes.  We 
cannot  help  thinking  that  their  happiness  is  of  more 
consequence  than  their  speculative  rights,  and  we  wish 
to  educate  women  so  that  they  may  be  happy  in  the  situ- 
ations in  which  they  are  most  likely  to  be  placed.  So 
much  depends  upon  the  temper  of  women,  that  it  ought 
to  be  most  carefully  cultivated  in  early  life  ;  girls  should 
be  more  inured  to  restraint  than  boys,  because  they  are 
likely  to  meet  with  more  restraint  in  society.  Girls 
should  learn  the  habit  of  bearing  slight  reproofs  without 
thinking  them  matters  of  great  consequence  ;  but  then 
they  should  always  be  permitted  to  state  their  argu- 
ments, and  they  should  perceive  that  justice  is  shown  to 
them,  and  that  they  increase  the  affection  and  esteem 
of  their  friends  by  command  of  temper.  Many  passion- 
ate men  are  extremely  good-natured,  and  make  amends 
for  their  extravagances  by  their  candour,  and  their 
eagerness  to  please  those  whom  they  have  injured 
during  their  fits  of  anger.  It  is  said  that  the  servants 
of  Dean  Swift  used  to  throw  themselves  in  his  way 
whenever  he  was  in  a  passion,  because  they  knew  that 
his  generosity  would  recompense  them  for  standing  the 
full  fire  of  his  anger.  A  woman  who  permitted  her- 
self to  treat  her  servants  with  ill-humour,  and  who  be- 
lieved that  she  could -pay  them  for  ill  usage,  would 
make  a  very  bad  mistress  of  a  family  ;  her  husband  and 
her  children  would  suffer  from  her  ill  temper,  without 
being  recompensed  for  their  misery.  We  should  not 
let  girls  imagine  that  they  can  balance  ill-humour  by 
some  good  quality  or  accomplishment;  because,  in  fact, 
there  are  none  which  can  supply  the  want  of  temper  in 
the  female  sex. 

A  just  idea  of  the  nature  of  dignity,  opposed  to  what 
is  commonly  called  spirit,  should  be  given  early  to  our 
female  pupils.  Many  women  who  are  not  disposed  to 
violence  of  temper,  affect  a  certain  degree  of  petulance, 
and  a  certain  stubbornness  of  opinion,  merely  because 
they  imagine  that  to  be  gentle  is  to  be  mean ;  and  that 
to  listen  to  reason  is  to  be  deficient  in  spirit. 

Enlarging  the  understanding  of  young  women  will 
prevent  them  from  the  trifling  vexations  which  irritate 


TEMPKR.  131 

those  who  have  none  but  trifling1  objects.  We  have  ob- 
served that  concerted  trials  of  temper  are  not  advan- 
tageous for  very  young  children.  Those  trials  which 
are  sometimes  prepared  for  pupils  at  a  more  advanced 
period  of  education,  are  not  always  more  happy  in  their 
consequences.  We  make  trifles  appear  important ;  and 
then  we  are  surprised  that  they  are  thought  so. 

Lord  Kames  tells  us  that  he  was  acquainted  with  a 
gentleman,  who,  though  otherwise  a.  man  of  good  un- 
derstanding, did  not  show  his  good  sense  in  the  educa- 
tion of  his  daughters'  temper.  "  He  had,"  says  Lord 
Kames,  "  three  comely  daughters,  between  twelve  and 
sixteen,  and  to  inure  them  to  bear  disappointments,  he 
would  propose  to  make  a  visit  which  he  knew  would 
delight  them.  The  coach  was  bespoke,  and  the  young 
ladies,  completely  armed  for  conquest,  were  ready  to 
take  their  seats.  But,  behold  !  their  father  had  changed 
his  mind.  This,  indeed,  was  a  disappointment ;  but  as 
it  appeared  to  proceed  from  whim,  or  caprice,  it  might 
sour  their  temper  instead  of  improving  it."* 

But  why  should  a  visit  be  made  of  such  mighty  con- 
sequence to  girls]  Why  should  it  be  a  disappointment 
',o  stay  at  home  1  And  why  should  Lord  Kames  advise 
that  disappointments  should  be  made  to  appear  the  effects 
of  chance  ]  This  method  of  making  things  appear  to 
be  what  they  are  not,  we  cannot  too  often  reprobate ; 
it  will  not  have  better  success  in  the  education  of  the 
temper,  than  in  the  management  of  the  understanding ; 
it  would  ruin  the  one  or  the  other,  or  both  :  even  when 
promises  are  made  with  perfect  good  faith  to  young 
people,  the  state  of  suspense  which  they  create  is  not 
serviceable  to  the  temper,  and  it  is  extremely  difficult  to 
promise  proper  rewards.f  The  celebrated  Serena  surely 
established  her  reputation  for  good  temper  without  any 
very  severe  trials.  Our  standard  of  female  excellence 
is  evidently  changed  since  the  days  of  Griselda  ;  but  we 
are  inclined  to  think,  that  even  in  these  degenerate  days, 
public  amusements  would  not  fill  the  female  imagination, 
if  they  were  not  early  represented  as  such  charming 
things,  such  great  rewards  to  girls,  by  their  imprudent 
friends. 

The  temper  depends  much  upon  the  understanding ; 

*  Lord  Kames,  p.  109. 

t  See  Chapter  on  Rewards  and  Punishments. 


132  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

and  whenever  we  give  our  pupils,  whether  male  or 
female,  false  ideas  of  pleasure,  we  prepare  for  them  in- 
numerable causes  of  discontent.  "  You  ought  to  be 
above  such  things  !  You  ought  not  to  let  yourself  be 
vexed  by  such  trifles !"  are  common  expressions,  which 
do  not  immediately  change  the  irritated  person's  feelings. 
You  must  alter  the  habits  of  thinking  ;  you  must  change 
the  view  of  the  object,  before  you  can  alter  the  feelings. 
Suppose  a  girl  has,  from  the  conversation  of  all  her  ac- 
quaintance, learned  to  imagine  that  there  is  some  vast 
pleasure  in  going  to  a  masquerade ;  it  is  in  vain  to  tell 
her,  in  the  moment  that  she  is  disappointed  about  her 
masquerade  dress,  that  "  it  is  a  trifle,  and  she  ought  to 
be  above  trifles."  She  cannot  be  above  them  at  a  mo- 
ment's warning ;  but  if  she  had  never  been  inspired 
with  a  violent  desire  to  go  to  a  masquerade,  the  disap- 
pointment would  really  appear  trifling.  We  may  calcu- 
late the  probability  of  any  person's  mortification,  by  ob- 
serving the  vehemence  of  their  hopes  ;  thus  we  are  led 
to  observe,  that  the  imagination  influences  the  temper. 
Upon  this  subject  we  shall  speak  more  fully  when  we 
treat  of  Imagination  and  Judgment. 

To  measure  the  degree  of  indulgence  which  may  be 
safe  for  any  given  pupils,  we  must  attend  to  the  effect 
produced  by  pleasure  upon  their  imagination  and  temper. 
If  a  small  diminution  of  their  usual  enjoyments  disturbs 
them,  they  have  been  rendered  not  too  happy,  but  too 
susceptible.  Happy  people,  who  have  resources  in 
their  own  power,  do  not  feel  every  slight  variation  in 
external  circumstances.  We  may  safely  allow  children 
to  be  as  happy  as  they  possibly  can  be  without  sacri- 
ficing the  future  to  the  present.  Such  prosperity  will 
not  enervate  their  minds. 

We  make  this  assertion  with  some  confidence,  be- 
cause experience  has  in  many  instances  confirmed  our 
opinion.  Among  a  large  family  of  children,  who  have 
never  been  tormented  with  artificial  trials  of  temper, 
and  who  have  been  made  as  happy  as  it  was  in  the 
power  of  their  parents  to  make  them,  there  is  not  one 
ill-tempered  child.  WTe  have  examples  every  day  before 
us  of  different  ages,  from  three  years  old  to  fifteen. 

Before  parents  adopt  either  Epicurean  or  Stoical  doc- 
trines in  the  education  of  the  temper,  it  may  be  prudent 
to  calculate  the  probabilities  of  the  good  and  evil  which 
their  pupils  are  likely  to  meet  with  in  life.  The  Syb- 


OBEDIENCE.  133 

arite,  whose  night's  rest  was  disturbed  by  a  doubled  rose 
leaf,  deserves  to  be  pitied  almost  as  much  as  the  young 
man  who,  when  he  was  benighted  in  the  snow,  was  re- 
proached by  his  severe  father  for  having  collected  a 
heap  of  snow  to  make  himself  a  pillow.  Unless  we 
could  for  ever  ensure  the  bed  of  roses  to  our  pupils,  we 
should  do  very  imprudently  to  make  it  early  necessary 
to  their  repose :  unless  the  pillow  of  snow  is  likely 
to  be  their  lot,  we  need  not  inure  the.m  to  it  from  their 
infancy. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ON    OBEDIENCE. 

OBEDIENCE  has  been  often  called  the  virtue  of  child- 
hood. How  far  it  is  entitled  to  the  name  of  virtue,  we 
need  not  at  present  stop  to  examine.  Obedience  is  ex- 
pected from  children  long  before  they  can  reason  upon 
the  justice  of  our  commands  ;  consequently  it  must  be 
taught  as  a  habit.  By  associating  pleasure  with  those 
things  which  we  first  desire  children  to  do,  we  should 
make  them  necessarily  like  to  obey ;  on  the  contrary, 
if  we  begin  by  ordering  them  to  do  what  is  difficult 
and  disagreeable  to  them,  they  must  dislike  obedience. 
The  poet  seems  to  understand  this  subject  when  he 
says, 

"  Or  bid  her  wear  your  necklace  rowed  with  pearl, 
You'll  find  your  Fanny  an  obedient  girl."* 

The  taste  for  a  necklace  rowed  with  pearl,  is  not  the 
first  taste,  even  in  girls,  that  we  should  wish  to  culti- 
vate ;  but  the  poet's  principle  is  good,  notwithstanding. 
Bid  your  child  do  things  that  are  agreeable  to  him,  and 
you  may  be  sure  of  his  obedience.  Bid  a  hungry  boy 
eat  apple-pie ;  order  a  shivering  urchin  to  warm  him- 
self at  a  good  fire ;  desire  him  to  go  to  bed  when  you 
see  him  yawn  with  fatigue,  and  by  such  seasonable  com- 

*  Elegy  on  an  old  Beauty. — PARNEL. 
13 


134  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

mands  you  will  soon  form  associations  of  pleasure  in 
his  mind,  with  the  voice  and  tone  of  authority.  This 
tone  should  never  be  threatening  or  alarming ;  it  should 
be  gentle*  but  decided.  Whenever  it  becomes  necessary 
that  a  child  should  do  what  he  feels  disagreeable,  it  is 
better  to  make  him  submit  at  once  to  necessity,  than  to 
create  any  doubt  and  struggle  in  his  mind,  by  leaving 
him  a  possibility  of  resistance.  Suppose  a  little  boy 
wishes  to  sit  up  later  than  the  hour  at  which  you  think 
proper  that  he  should  go  to  bed  ;  it  is  most  prudent  to 
take  him  to  bed  at  the  appointed  time,  without  saying 
one  word  to  him,  either  in  the  way  of  entreaty  or  com- 
mand. If  you  entreat,  you  give  the  child  an  idea  that 
he  has  it  in  his  power  to  refuse  you :  if  you  command, 
and  he  does  not  instantly  obey,  you  hazard  your  au- 
thority, and  you  teach  him  that  he  can  successfully  set 
his  will  in  opposition  to  yours.  The  boy  wishes  to  sit 
up ;  he  sees  no  reason,  in  the  moral  fitness  of  things, 
why  he  should  go  to  bed  at  one  hour  more  than  at 
another ;  all  he  perceives  is,  that  such  is  your  will. 
What  does  he  gain  by  obeying  you  ?  Nothing  :  he  loses 
the  pleasure  of  sitting  up  half  an  hour  longer.  How 
can  you  then  expect  that  he  should,  in  consequence  of 
these  reasonings,  give  up  his  obvious  immediate  inter- 
est, and  march  off  to  bed  heroically  at  the  word  of  com- 
mand 1  Let  him  not  be  put  to  the  trial ;  when  he  has 
for  some  time  been  regularly  taken  to  bed  at  a  fixed  hour, 
he  will  acquire  the  habit  of  thinking  that  he  must  go  at 
that  hour  :  association  will  make  him  expect  it ;  and  if 
his  experience  has  been  uniform,  he  will,  without  know- 
ing why,  think  it  necessary  that  he  should  do  as  he  has 
been  used  to  do.  When  the  habit  of  obedience  to  cus- 
tomary necessity  is  thus  formed,  we  may,  without  much 
risk,  ingraft  upon  it  obedience  to  the  voice  of  authority. 
For  instance,  when  the  boy  hears  the  clock  strike,  the 
usual  signal  for  his  departure,  you  may,  if  you  see  that 
he  is  habitually  ready  to  obey  this  signal,  associate 
your  commands  with  that  to  which  he  has  already 
learned  to  pay  attention.  "Go;  it  is  time  that  you 
should  go  to  bed  now,"  will  only  seem  to  the  child  a 
confirmation  of  the  sentence  already  pronounced  by  the 
clock :  by  degrees,  your  commands,  after  they  have 
been  regularly  repeated,  when  the  child  feels  no  hope 
of  evading  them,  will,  even  in  new  circumstances,  have 
from  association  the  power  of  compelling  obedience 


OBEDIENCE.  135 

Whenever  we  desire  a  child  to  do  any  thing,  we  should 
be  perfectly  certain,  not  only  that  it  is  a  thing  which  he 
is  capable  of  doing,  but  also  that  it  is  something  we  can, 
in  case  it  comes  to  that  ultimate  argument,  force  him  to 
do.  You  cannot  oblige  a  child  to  stand  up,  if  he  has  a 
mind  to  sit  down ;  or  to  walk,  if  he  does  not  choose  to 
exert  his  muscles  for  that  purpose  :  but  you  can  abso- 
lutely prevent  him  from  touching  whatever  you  desire 
him  not  to  meddle  with,  by  your  superior  strength.  It 
is  best,  then,  to  begin  with  prohibition's  ;  with  such  pro- 
hibitions as  you  can,  and  will,  steadily  persevere  to  en- 
force :  if  you  are  not  exact  in  requiring  obedience,  you 
will  never  obtain  it,  either  by  persuasion  or  authority. 
As  it  will  require  a  considerable  portion  of  time  and  un- 
remitting attention,  to  enforce  the  punctual  observance 
of  a  variety  of  prohibitions,  it  will,  for  your  own  sake, 
be  most  prudent  to  issue  as  few  edicts  as  possible,  and 
to  be  sparing  in  the  use  of  the  imperative  mood.  It 
will,  if  you  calculate  the  trouble  you  must  take  day  after 
day  to  watch  your  pupil,  cost  you  less  to  begin  by  ar- 
ranging every  circumstance  in  your  power,  so  as  to  pre- 
vent the  necessity  of  trusting  to  laws  what  ought  to  be 
guarded  against  by  precaution.  Do  you,  for  instance, 
wish  to  prevent  your  son  from  breaking  a  beautiful  china- 
jar  in  your  drawing-room  1  instead  of  forbidding  him  to 
touch  it,  put  it  out  of  his  reach. — Would  you  prevent 
your  son  from  talking  to  servants  1  let  your  house,  in 
the  first  place,  be  so  arranged,  that  he  shall  never  be 
obliged  to  pass  through  any  rooms  where  he  is  likely  to 
meet  with  servants  ;  let  all  his  wants  be  gratified  with- 
out their  interference  ;  let  him  be  able  to  get  at  his  hat 
without  asking  the  footman  to  reach  it  for  him,  from  its 
inaccessible  height.*  The  simple  expedient  of  hanging 
the  hat  in  a  place  where  the  boy  can  reach  it,  will  save 
you  the  trouble  of  continually  repeating,  "  Don't  ask 
William,  child,  to  reach  your  hat ;  can't  you  come  and 
ask  me  V  Yes,  the  boy  can  come  and  ask  you  ;  but  if 
you  are  busy,  you  will  not  like  to  go  in  quest  of  the  hat ; 
your  reluctance  will  possibly  appear  in  your  counte- 
nance, and  the  child,  who  understands  the  language  of 
looks  better  than  that  of  words,  will  clearly  compre- 
hend, that  you  are  displeased  with  him  at  the  very 
instant  that  he  is  fulfilling  the  letter  of  the  law. 

*  Rousseau. 


136  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

A  lady  who  was  fond  of  having  her  house  well  ar- 
ranged, discovered,  to  the  amazement  of  her  acquaint- 
ance, the  art  of  making  all  her  servants  keep  every  thing 
in  its  place.  Even  in  the  kitchen,  from  the  most  mi- 
nute article  to  the  most  unwieldy,  every  thing  was  inva- 
riably to  be  found  in  its  allotted  station ;  the  servants 
were  thought  miracles  of  obedience  ;  but,  in  fact,  they 
obeyed  because  it  was  the  easiest  thing  they  could  pos- 
sibly do.  Order  was  made  more  convenient  to  them 
than  disorder ;  and,  with  their  utmost  ingenuity  to  save 
themselves  trouble,  they  could  not  invent  places  for 
every  thing  more  appropriate  than  those  which  had  been 
assigned  by  their  mistress's  legislative  economy.  In 
the  same  manner  we  may  secure  the  orderly  obedience 
of  children,  without  exhausting  their  patience  or  our 
own.  Rousseau  advises,  that  children  should  be  gov- 
erned solely  by  the  necessity  of  circumstances;  but 
there  are  one-and-twenty  excellent  objections  to  this  sys- 
tem ;  the  first  being,  that  it  is  impossible :  of  this  Rousseau 
must  have  been  sensible,  in  the  trials  which  he  made  as 
a  preceptor.  When  he  had  the  management  of  a  re- 
fractory child,  he  found  himself  obliged  to  invent  and 
arrange  a  whole  drama,  by  artificial  experience,  to  con- 
vince his  little  pupil  that  he  had  better  not  walk  out  in 
the  streets  of  Paris  alone  ;  and  that,  therefore,  he  should 
wait  until  his  tutor  could  conveniently  accompany  him. 
Rousseau  had  prepared  the  neighbours  on  each  side  of 
the  street  to  make  proper  speeches  as  his  pupil  passed 
by  their  doors,  which  alarmed  and  piqued  the  boy  effect- 
ually. At  length  the  child  was  met,  at  a  proper  time, 
by  a  friend  who  had  been  appointed  to  watch  him  ;  and 
thus  he  was  brought  home  submissive.  This  scene,  as 
Rousseau  observes,  was  admirably  well  performed  ;* 
but  what  occasion  could  there  be  for  so  much  contri- 
vance and  deceit !  If  his  pupil  had  not  been  uncom- 
monly deficient  in  penetration,  he  would  soon  have  dis- 
covered his  preceptor  in  some  of  his  artifices ;  then 
adieu  both  to  obedience  and  confidence.  A  false  idea 
of  the  pleasures  of  liberty  misled  Rousseau.  Children 
have  not  our  abstract  ideas  of  the  pleasures  of  liberty ; 
they  do  not,  until  they  have  suffered  from  ill-judged  re- 
straints, feel  any  strong  desire  to  exercise  what  we  call 
freewill ;  liberty  is,  with  them,  the  liberty  of  doing  cer- 

*  Emilius,  vol.  i.  page  23. 


OBEDIF.NCE.  137 

tain  specific  things  which  they  have  found  to  be  agree- 
able ;  liberty  is  not  the  general  idea  of  pleasure,  in  doing 
whatever  they  WILL  to  do.  Rousseau  desires,  that  we 
should  not  let  our  pupil  know,  that  in  doing  our  will  he  is 
obedient  to  us.  But  why  ?  Why  should  we  not  let  a 
child  know  the  truth"?  If  we  attempt  to  conceal  it,  we 
shall  only  get  into  endless  absurdities  and  difficulties. 
LordKames  tells  us,  that  he  was  acquainted  with  a  cou- 
ple, who,  in  the  education  of  their  family,  pursued  as 
much  as  possible  Rousseau's  plan.  One  evening,  as  the 
father  was  playing  at  chess  with  a  friend,  one  of  his 
children,  a  boy  of  about  four  years  old,  took  a  piece 
from  the  board,  and  ran  away  to  play  with  it.  The  fa- 
ther, whose  principles  would  not  permit  him  to  assert 
his  right  to  his  own  chess-man,  began  to  bargain  for  his 
property  with  his  son.  "  Harry,"  said  he,  "  let  us  have 
back  the  man,  and  there's  an  apple  for  you."  The  apple 
was  soon  devoured,  and  the  child  returned  to  the  chess- 
board and  kidnapped  another  chess-man.  What  this 
man's  ransom  might  be,  we  are  not  yet  informed ;  but 
Lord  Kames  tells  us,  that  the  father  was  obliged  to  sus- 
pend his  game  at  chess  until  his  son  was  led  away  to 
his  supper.  Does  it  seem  just,  that  parents  should  be- 
come slaves  to  the  liberties  of  their  children  ]  If  one 
set  of  beings  or  another  should  sacrifice  a  portion  of 
happiness,  surely  those  who  are  the  most  useful,  and 
the  most  capable  of  increasing  the  knowledge  and  the 
pleasures  of  life,  have  some  claim  to  a  preference  ;  and 
when  the  power  is  entirely  in  their  own  hands,  it  is 
most  probable  that  they  will  defend  their  own  interests. 
We  shall  not,  like  many  who  have  spoken  of  Rousseau, 
steal  from  him  after  having  abused  him.  His  remarks 
upon  the  absurd  and  tyrannical  restraints  which  are 
continually  imposed  upon  children  by  the  folly  of  nurses 
and  servants,  or  by  the  imprudent  anxiety  of  parents 
and  preceptors,  are  excellent.  Whenever  Rousseau  is 
in  the  right,  his  eloquence  is  irresistible. 

To  determine  what  degree  of  obedience  it  is  just  to 
require  from  children,  we  must  always  consider  what 
degree  of  reason  they  possess :  whenever  we  can  use 
reason,  we  should  never  use  force  ;  it  is  only  while  chil- 
dren are  too  young  to  comprehend  reason,  that  we 
should  expect  from  them  implicit  submission.  The 
means  which  have  been  pointed  out  for  teaching  the 


138  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

habit  of  obedience,  must  not  be  depended  upon  for  teach- 
ing any  thing  more  than  the  mere  habit.  When  chil- 
dren begin  to  reason,  they  do  not  act  merely  from  habit ; 
they  will  not  be  obedient  at  this  age,  unless  their  under- 
standing is  convinced  that  it  is  for  their  advantage  to  be 
so.  Wherever  we  can  explain  the  reasons  for  any  of 
our  requests,  we  should  attempt  it ;  but  whenever  these 
cannot  be  fully  explained,  it  is  better  not  to  give  a  par- 
tial explanation ;  it  will  be  best  to  say  steadily,  "  You 
cannot  understand  this  now,  you  will,  perhaps,  under- 
stand it  some  time  hence."  Whenever  we  tell  children, 
that  we  forbid  them  to  do  such  and  such  things  for  any 
particular  reason,  we  must  take  care  that  the  reason 
assigned  is  adequate,  and  that  it  will  in  all  cases  hold 
good.  For  instance,  if  we  forbid  a  boy  to  eat  unripe 
fruit,  because  it  will  make  him  ill,  and  if  afterward  the  boy 
eat  some  unripe  gooseberries  without  feeling  ill  in  con- 
sequence of  his  disobedience,  he  will  doubt  the  truth  of 
the  person  who  prohibited  unripe  fruit ;  he  will  rather 
trust  his  own  partial  experience  than  any  assertions. 
The  idea  of  hurting  his  health  is  a  general  idea,  which 
he  does  not  yet  comprehend.  It  is  more  prudent  to 
keep  him  out  of  the  way  of  unripe  gooseberries,  than  to 
hazard  at  once  his  obedience  and  his  integrity.  We 
need  not  expatiate  further  ;  the  instance  we  have  given, 
may  be  readily  applied  to  all  cases  in  which  children 
have  it  in  their  power  to  disobey  with  immediate  impu- 
nity, and,  what  is  still  more  dangerous,  with  the  cer- 
tainty of  obtaining  immediate  pleasure.  The  gratifica- 
tion of  their  senses,  and  the  desire  of  bodily  exercise, 
ought  never  to  be  unnecessarily  restrained.  Our  pupils 
should  distinctly  perceive,  that  we  wish  to  make  them 
happy ;  and  every  instance  in  which  they  discover  that 
obedience  has  really  made  them  happier,  will  be  more  in 
our  favour  than  all  the  lectures  we  could  preach.  From 
the  past,  they  will  judge  of  the  future.  Children  who  have 
for  many  years  experienced  that  their  parents  have 
exacted  obedience  only  to  such  commands  as  proved  to 
be  ultimately  wise  and  beneficial,  will  surely  be  disposed, 
from  habit,  from  gratitude,  and  yet  more  from  prudence, 
to  consult  their  parents  in  all  the  material  actions  of  their 
lives. 

We  may  observe,  that  the  spirit  of  contradiction, 
which  sometimes  breaks  out  in  young  people  the  mo- 


OBEDIENCE.  139 

ment  they  are  able  to  act  for  themselves,  arises  fre- 
quently from  slight  causes  in  their  early  education. 
Children  who  have  experienced  that  submission  to  the 
will  of  others  has  constantly  made  them  unhappy,  will 
necessarily,  by  reasoning  inversely,  imagine,  that  feli- 
city consists  in  following  their  own  free  will. 

The  French  poet  Boileau  was  made  very  unhappy  by 
neglect  and  restraint  during  his  education:  when  he 
grew  up,  he  would  never  agree  with  those  who  talked 
to  him  of  the  pleasures  of  childhood.*  "Peut  on," 
disoit  ce  poete  amourenx  de  1'independence,  "  ne  pas 
regarder  comme  un-grand  malheur,  le  chagrin  continuel 
et  particulier  a  cet  age,  de  ne  jamais  faire  sa  volonte  ?" 
It  was  in  vain,  continues  his  biographer,  to  boast  to  him 
of  the  advantages  of  this  happy  constraint,  which  saves 
youth  from  so  many  follies.  "  What  signifies  our  know- 
ing the  value  of  our  chains  when  we  have  shaken  them 
off,  if  we  feel  nothing  but  their  weight  while  we  wear 
them  ?"  the  galled  poet  used  to  reply.  Nor  did  Boiieau 
enjoy  his  freedom,  though  he  thought  with  such  horror 
of  his  slavery.  He  declared,  that  if  he  had  it  in  his 
choice,  either  to  be  born  again  upon  the  hard  conditions 
of  again  going  through  his  childhood,  or  not  to  exist, 
he  would  rather  not  exist :  but  he  was  not  happy  during 
any  period  of  his  existence  ;  he  quarrelled  with  all  the 
seasons  of  life ;  "  all  seemed  to  him  equally  disagreea- 
ble ;  youth,  manhood,  and  old  age,  are  each  subject,  he 
observed,  to  impetuous  passions,  to  care,  and  to  infirmi- 
ties." Hence  we  may  conclude,  that  the  severity  of  his 
education  had  not  succeeded  in  teaching  him  to  sub- 
mit philosophically  to  necessity,  or  yet  in  giving  him 
much  enjoyment  from  that  liberty  which  he  so  much 
coveted.  Thus  it  too  often  happens,  that  an  imaginary 
value  is  set  upon  the  exercise  of  the  freewill  by  those 
who,  during  their  childhood,  have  suffered  under  inju- 
dicious restrictions.  Sometimes  the  love  of  freewill  is 
so  uncontrollably  excited,  even  during  childhood,  that  it 
breaks  out,  unfortunately  both  for  the  pupils  and  the  pre- 
ceptors, in  the  formidable  shape  of  obstinacy. 

Of  all  the  faults  to  which  children  are  subject,  there 
is  none  which  is  more  difficult  to  cure,  or  more  easy  to 
prevent,  than  obstinacy.  As  it  is  early  observed  by 
those  who  are  engaged  in  education,  it  is  sometimes 

*  Histoire  des  Membres  de  1'Academie,  par  M.  d'Alerabert.  Tome 
troisieme,  p.  24. 


140  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

supposed  to  be  inherent  in  the  temper ;  but,  so  far  from 
being  naturally  obstinate,  infants  show  those  strong  pro- 
pensities to  sympathy  and  imitation  which  prepare  them 
for  an  opposite  character.  The  folly  of  the  nurse,  how- 
ever, makes  an  intemperate  use  of  these  happy  propen- 
sities. She  perpetually  torments  the  child  to  exert  him- 
self for  her  amusement ;  all  his  senses  and  all  his  mus- 
cles she  commands.  He  must  see,  hear,  talk  or  be 
silent,  move  or  be  still,  when  she  thinks  proper ;  and 
often  with  the  desire  of  amusing  her  charge,  or  of  show- 
ing him  off  to  the  company,  she  disgusts  him  with  vol- 
untary exertion.  Before  young  children  have  com- 
pletely acquired  the  use  of  their  limbs,  they  cannot  per- 
form feats  of  activity  or  of  dexterity  at  a  moment's 
warning.  Their  muscles  do  not  instantaneously  obey 
their  will ;  the  efforts  they  make  are  painful  to  them- 
selves ;  the  awkwardness  of  their  attempts  is  painful  to 
others ;  the  delay  of  the  body  is  often  mistaken  for  the 
reluctance  of  the  mind ;  and  the  impatient  tutor  pro- 
nounces the  child  to  be  obstinate,  while  all  the  time  he 
may  be  doing  his  utmost  to  obey.  Instead  of  growing 
angry  with  the  helpless  child,  it  would  be  surely  more 
wise  to  assist  his  feeble  and  inexperienced  efforts.  If 
we  press  him  to  make  unsuccessful  attempts,  we  shall 
associate  pain  both  with  voluntary  exertion  and  with 
obedience. 

Little  W (a  boy  of  three  years  old)  was  one  day 

asked  by  his  father  to  jump.  The  boy  stood  stock 
still.  Perhaps  he  did  not  know  the  meaning  of  the  word 
jump.  The  father,  instead  of  pressing  him  further, 
asked  several  other  children  who  happened  to  be  in  the 
room  to  jump,  and  he  jumped  along  with  them  :  all  this 
was  done  playfully.  The  little  boy  looked  on  silently 
for  a  short  time,  and  seemed  much  pleased.  "  Papa 

jumps  !"  he  exclaimed.     His  brother  L lifted  him 

up  two  or  three  times ;  and  he  then  tried  to  jump, 
and  succeeded :  from  sympathy  he  learned  the  com- 
mand of  the  muscles  which  were  necessary  to  his  jump- 
ing, and  to  his  obedience.  If  this  boy  had  been  im- 
portuned, or  forced  to  exert  himself,  he  might  have 
been  thus  taught  obstinacy,  merely  from  the  imprudent 
impatience  of  the  spectators.  The  reluctance  to  stop 
when  a  child  is  once  in  motion,  is  often  mistaken  for 
obstinacy  :  when  he  is  running,  singing,  laughing,  or 
talking,  if  you  suddenly  command  him  to  stop,  he  can- 


OBEDIENCK.  141 

not  instantly  obey  you.  If  we  reflect  upon  our  own 
minds,  we  may  perceive  that  we  cannot,  without  con- 
siderable effort,  turn  our  thoughts  suddenly  from  any 
subject  on  which  we  have  been  long  intent.  If  we  have 
been  long  in  a  carriage,  the  noise  of  the  wheels  sounds 
in  our  ear,  and  we  seem  to  be  yet  going  on  after  the 
carriage  has  stopped.  We  do  not  pretend  to  found  any 
accurate  reasoning  upon  analogy  ;  but  we  may  observe, 
the  difficulty  with  which  our  minds  are  stopped  or  put 
in  motion,  resembles  the  vis-inertiae  of  the  body. 

W (three  years  old)  had  for  some  minutes  vocif- 
erated two  or  three  words  of  a  song,  until  the  noise 
could  be  no  longer  patiently  endured  \  his  father  called 
to  him,  and  desired  that  he  would  not  make  so  much 

noise.  W paused  for  a  moment,  but  then  went 

on  singing  the  same  words.  His  brother  said,  Hush ! 

W paused  for  another  second  or  two  ;  but  then 

went  on  with  his  roundelay.  In  his  countenance  there 
was  not  the  slightest  appearance  of  ill-humour.  One 
of  his  sisters  put  him  upon  a  board  which  was  lying  on 
the  floor,  and  which  was  a  little  unsteady;  as  he  walked 
cautiously  along  this  board,  his  attention  was  occupied, 
and  he  forgot  his  song. 

This  inability  suddenly  to  desist  from  any  occupation, 
may  easily  grow  into  obstinacy,  because  the  pain  of 
checking  themselves  will  be  great  in  children,  and  this 
pain  will  be  associated  with  the  commands  of  those 
who  govern  them  ;  it  is  better  to  stop  them  by  present- 
ing new  objects  to  their  attention,  than  by  the  stimulus 
of  a  peremptory  voice.  Children  should  never  be  ac- 
cused of  obstinacy  ;  the  accusation  cannot  cure,  but  may 
superinduce  the  disease.  If,  unfortunately,  they  have 
been  suffered  to  contract  a  disposition  to  this  fault,  it 
may  be  cured  by  a  little  patience  and  good  temper.  We 
have  mentioned  how  example  and  sympathy  may  be 
advantageously  used ;  praise  and  looks  of  affection, 
which  naturally  express  our  feeling  when  children  do 
right,  encourage  the  slightest  efforts  to  obey ;  but  we 
must  carefully  avoid  showing  any  triumph  in  our  victory 
over  yielding  stubbornness. 

"  Ay,  1  knew  you  would  do  what  we  desired  at  last, 
you  might  as  well  have  done  it  at  first,"  is  a  common 
nursery-maid's  speech,  which  is  well  caculated  to  pique 
the  pride  of  a  half-subdued  penitent.  When  children 


142  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

are  made  ashamed  of  submission,  they  will  become  in- 
trepid, probably  unconquerable  rebels. 

Neither  rewards  nor  punishments  will  then  avail ;  the 
pupil  perceives,  that  both  the  wit  and  the  strength  of 
his  master  are  set  in  competition  with  his  :  at  the  ex- 
pense of  a  certain  degree  of  pain,  he  has  the  power  to 
resist  as  long  as  he  thinks  proper ;  and  there  is  scarcely 
any  degree  of  pain  that  a  tutor  dares  to  inflict,  which 
an  obstinate  hero  is  not  able  to  endure.  With  the  spirit 
of  a  martyr,  he  sustains  reproaches  and  torture.  If,  at 
length,  the  master  changes  his  tone,  and  tries  to  soften 
and  win  the  child  to  his  purpose,  his  rewards  are  con- 
sidered as  bribes  :  if  the  boy  really  thinks  that  he  is  in 
the  right  to  rebel,  he  must  yield  his  sense  of  honour  to 
the  force  of  temptation  when  he  obeys.  If  he  has 
formed  no  such  idea  of  honour,  he  perhaps  considers 
the  reward  as  the  price  of  his  submission ;  and,  upon  a 
future  occasion,  he  will  know  how  to  raise  that  price 
by  prolonging  his  show  of  resistance.  Where  the  child 
has  formed  a  false  idea  of  honour,  his  obstinacy  is  only 
mistaken  resolution ;  we  should  address  ourselves  to 
his  understanding,  and  endeavour  to  convince  him  of  his 
error.  Where  the  understanding  is  convinced,  and  the 
habit  of  opposition  still  continues,  we  should  carefully 
avoid  calling  his  false  associations  into  action ;  we 
should  not  ask  him  to  do  any  thing  for  which  he  has 
acquired  an  habitual  aversion ;  we  should  alter  our  man- 
ner of  speaking  to  him,  that  neither  the  tones  of  our 
voice,  the  words,  or  the  looks,  which  have  been  his 
customary  signals  for  resistance,  may  recall  the  same 
feelings  to  his  mind :  placed  in  new  circumstances,  he 
may  acquire  new  habits,  and  his  old  associates  will  in 
time  be  forgotten.  Sufficient  time  must,  however,  be 
allowed ;  we  may  judge  when  it  is  prudent  to  try  him 
on  any  old  dangerous  subjects,  by  many  symptoms  :  by 
observing  the  degree  of  alacrity  with  which  he  obeys 
on  indifferent  occasions ;  by  observing  what  degree  of 
command  he  has  acquired  over  himself  in  general ;  by 
observing  in  what  manner  he  judges  of  the  conduct  and 
temper  of  other  children  in  similar  circumstances ;  by 
observing  whether  the  consciousness  of  his  former  self 
continues  in  full  force.  Children  often  completely  for- 
get what  they  have  been. 

Where  obstinacy  arises  from  principle,  if  we  may  use 


OBKDIftNCF.  143 

the  expression,  it  cannot  be  cured  by  the  same  means 
which  are  taken  to  cure  that  species  of  the  disease 
which  depends  merely  upon  habit.  The  same  courage 
and  fortitude  which  in  one  case  we  reprobate,  and  try 
to  conquer  with  all  our  might,  in  the  other  we  admire 
and  extol.  This  should  be  pointed  out  to  children  ;  and 
if  they  act  from  a  love  of  glory,  as  soon  as  they  perceive 
it,  they  will  follow  that  course  which  will  secure  to  them 
the  prize. 

Charles  XII.,  whom  the  Turks,  when  incensed  by  his 
disobedience  to  the  grand  seignior,  called  Demir-bash, 
or  head  of  iron,  showed  early  symptoms  of  this  head- 
strong nature ;  yet  in  his  childhood,  if  his  preceptor* 
named  but  glory,  any  thing  could  be  obtained  from 
Charles.  Charles  had  a  great  aversion  to  learning 
Latin  ;  but  when  he  was  told  that  the  kings  Of  Poland 
and  Denmark  understood  it,  he  began  to  study  it  in 
good  earnest.  We  do  not  mean  to  infer,  that  emulation 
with  the  kings  of  Poland  and  Denmark  was  the  best 
possible  motive  which  Charles  XII. 's  preceptor  could 
have  used,  to  make  the  young  prince  conquer  his 
aversion  to  Latin  ;  but  we  would  point  out,  that  where 
the  love  of  glory  is  connected  with  obstinate  temper, 
the  passion  is  more  than  a  match  for  the  temper.  Let 
us  but  enlighten  this  love  of  glory,  and  we  produce 
magnanimity  in  the  place  of  obstinacy.  Examples,  in 
conversation  and  in  books,  of  great  characters,  who 
have  not  been  ashamed  to  change  their  opinions,  and  to 
acknowledge  that  they  have  been  mistaken,  will  proba- 
bly make  a  great  impression  upon  young  people  ;  they 
will  from  these  learn  to  admire  candour,  and  will  be 
taught  that  it  is  mean  to  persist  in  the  wrong.  Ex- 
amples from  books  must,  however,  be  also  uniformly 
supported  by  examples  in  real  life  ;  preceptors  and 
parents  must  practise  the  virtues  which  they  preach. 
It  is  said  that  the  amiable  Fenelon  acquired  the  most 
permanent  influence  over  his  pupil,  by  the  candour  with 
which  he  always  treated  him.  Fenelon  did  not  think 
that  he  could  lessen  his  dignity  by  confessing  himself 
to  be  in  the  wrong. 

Young  people  who  have  quick  abilities,  and  who  hap- 
pen to  live  with  those  who  are  inferior  to  them  either 
in  knowledge  or  in  capacity,  are  apt  to  become  positive 

*  Voltaire's  Hist.  Charles  XIL 


144  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

and  self-willed ;  they  measure  all  the  world  by  the  in- 
dividuals with  whom  they  have  measured  themselves  ; 
and,  as  they  have  been  convinced  that  they  have  been 
in  the  right  in  many  cases,  they  take  it  for  granted  that 
their  judgment  must  be  always  infallible.  This  disease 
may  be  easily  cured  ;  it  is  only  necessary  to  place  the 
patient  among  his  superiors  in  intellect,  his  own  ex- 
perience will  work  his  cure  :  he  liked  to  follow  his  will, 
because  his  judgment  had  taught  him  that  he  might  trust 
more  securely  to  the  tact  of  his  own  understanding,  than 
to  the  decision  of  others.  As  soon  as  he  discovers  more 
sense  in  the  arguments  of  his  companions,  he  will  listen 
to  them  ;  and  if  he  finds  their  reason  superior  to  his  own, 
he  will  submit.  A  preceptor  who  wishes  to  gain  as- 
cendency over  a  clever  positive  boy,  must  reason  with 
all  possible  precision,  and  must  always  show  that  he  is 
willing  to  be  decided  by  the  strongest  arguments  which 
can  be  produced.  If  he  ever  prophesies,  he  sets  his 
judgment  at  stake ;  therefore  he  should  not  prophesy 
about  matters  of  chance,  but  rather  in  affairs  where  he 
can  calculate  with  certainty.  If  his  prophecies  are 
frequently  accomplished,  his  pupil's  confidence  in  him 
will  rapidly  increase  ;  and  if  he  desires  that  confidence 
to  be  permanent,  he  will  not  affect  mystery,  but  he  will 
honestly  explain  the  circumstances  by  which  he  formed 
his  opinions.  Young  people  who  are  accustomed  to 
hear  and  to  give  reasons  for  their  opinions,  will  not  be 
violent  and  positive  in  assertions ;  they  will  not  think 
that  the  truth  of  any  assertion  can  be  manifested  by  re- 
peating over  the  same  words  a  thousand  times  ;  they 
will  not  ask  how  many  people  are  of  this  or  that  opinion, 
but  rather  what  arguments  are  produced  on  each  side. 
There  is  very  little  danger  that  any  people,  whether 
young  or  old,  should  continue  to  be  positive,  who  are  in 
the  habit  of  exercising  their  reasoning  faculty. 

It  has  been  often  observed  that  extremely  good- 
humoured,  complaisant  children,  when  they  grow  up, 
become  ill-tempered;  and  young  men  who  are  gener- 
ally liked  in  society  as  pleasant  companions,  become 
surly,  tyrannical  masters  in  their  own  families,  positive 
about  mere  trifles,  and  anxious  to  subjugate  the  wills  of 
all  who  are  any  wise  dependant  upon  them.  This  char- 
acter has  been  nicely  touched  by  De  Boissy,  in  his 
comedy  called  "  Dehors  trompeurs." 

We  must  observe,  that  while  young  people  are  in 


X)BEDIENCE.  145 

company,  and  under  the  immediate  influence  of  the  ex- 
citements of  novelty,  numbers,  and  dissipation,  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  the  goodness 
of  their  temper.  Young  men  who  are  the  most  ready 
co  yield  their  inclinations  to  the  humour  of  their  com- 
panions, are  not  therefore  to  be  considered  as  of  really 
compliant  dispositions  ;  the  idle  or  indolent,  who  have 
no  resources  in  their  own  minds,  and  no  independent 
occupations,  are  victims  to  the  yawning  demon  of  ennui 
the  moment  they  are  left  in  solitude.  They  conse- 
quently dread  so  heartily  to  be  left  alone,  that  they 
readily  give  up  a  portion  of  their  liberty  to  purchase  the 
pleasures  and  mental  support  which  society  affords. 
When  they  give  up  their  wishes,  and  follow  the  lead  of 
the  company,  they  in  fact  give  up  but  very  little ;  their 
object  is  amusement ;  and  this  obtained,  their  time  is 
sacrificed  without  regret.  On  the  contrary,  those  who 
are  engaged  in  literary  or  professional  pursuits,  set  a 
great  value  upon  their  time,  and  feel  considerable  reluc- 
tance to  part  with  it  without  some  adequate  compensa- 
tion ;  they  must  consequently  be  less  complaisant  com- 
panions, and  by  the  generality  of  superficial  observers, 
would  be  thought,  perhaps,  less  complying  in  their  tem- 
pers, than  the  idle  and  dissipated.  But  when  the  idle 
man  has  passed  the  common  season  for  dissipation^ and  is 
settled  in  domestic  life,  his  spirits  flag  from  the  want  of 
his  usual  excitements ;  and,  as  he  has  no  amusements 
in  his  own  family  to  purchase  by  the  polite  sacrifice  of 
his  opinion  or  his  will,  he  is  not  inclined  to  complai- 
sance. The  pleasure  of  exercising  his  freewill  be- 
comes important  in  his  eyes  ;  he  has  few  pleasures,  and 
of  those  few  he  is  tenacious.  He  has  been  accustomed 
to  submit  to  others  in  society ;  he  is  proud  to  be  master 
at  home  ;  he  has  few  emotions,  and  the  emotion  caused 
by  the  exertion  of  command  becomes  agreeable  and 
necessary  to  him.  Thus  many  of  the  same  causes 
which  make  a  young  man  a  pleasant  companion  abroad, 
tend  naturally  to  make  him  a  tyrant  at  home.  This 
perversity  and  positiveness  of  temper  ultimately  arises 
from  the  want  of  occupation,  and  from  deficient  energy 
of  mind.  We  may  guard  against  these  evils  by  educa- 
tion :  when  we  see  a  playful,  active  child,  we  have  little 
fear  of  his  temper.  "  Oh,  he  will  certainly  be  good 
tempered,  he  is  the  most  obedient,  complying  creature 
in  the  world,  heMl  do  any  thing  you  ask  him."  But  let 
13 


146  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

us  cultivate  his  understanding,  and  give  him  tastes 
which  shall  occupy  and  interest  him  agreeably  through 
life,  or  else  this  sweet,  complying  temper  will  not  last 
till  he  is  thirty. 

An  ill-cured  obstinacy  of  temper,  when  it  breaks  out 
after  young  people  have  arrived  at  years  of  discretion, 
is  terrible.  Those  who  attempt  to  conquer  obstinacy 
in  children  by  bodily  pain,  or  by  severe  punishments  of 
any  kind,  often  appear  to  succeed,  and  to  have  entirely 
eradicated,  when  they  have  merely  suppressed  the  dis- 
ease for  a  time.  As  soon  as  the  child  that  is  intimi- 
dated by  force  or  fear  is  relieved  from  restraint,  he  will 
resume  his  former  habits  ;  he  may  change  the  mode  of 
showing  it,  but  the  disposition  will  continue  the  same. 
It  will  appear  in  various  parts  of  the  conduct,  as  the 
limbs  of  the  giant  appeared  unexpectedly  at  different 
periods  and  in  different  parts  of  the  Castle  of  Otranto. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ON    TRUTH. 

IT  is  not  necessary  here  to  pronounce  a  panegyric 
upon  truth  ;  its  use  and  value  are  thoroughly  understood 
by  all  the  world  ;  but  we  shall  endeavour  to  give  some 
practical  advice,  which  may  be  of  service  in  educating 
children,  not  only  to  the  love,  but  to  the  habits,  of  in- 
tegrity. These  are  not  always  found,  as  they  ought  to 
be,  inseparable. 

Rousseau's  eloquence,  and  Locke's  reasoning,  have 
sufficiently  reprobated,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  have  ex- 
ploded, the  system  of  lecturing  children  upon  morality; 
of  giving  them  precepts  and  general  maxims  which 
they  do  not  understand,  and  which  they  cannot  apply. 
We  shall  not  produce  long  quotations  from  books  which 
are  in  everybody's  hands.*  There  is  one  particular  in 
which  Rousseau  especially,  and  most  other  authors  who 

*  We  refer  to  Locke's  thoughts  concerning  Education,  and  Rous- 
seau's Emilius,  vol.  i. 


TRUTH.  147 

have  written  upon  education,  have  given  very  dangerous 
counsel;  they  have  counselled  parents  to  leach  truth  by 
falsehood.  The  privilege  of  using  contrivance  and  in- 
genious deceptions,  has  been  uniformly  reserved  for 
preceptors  ;  and  the  pupils,  by  moral  delusions,  and  the 
theatric  effect  of  circumstances  treacherously  arranged, 
are  to  be  duped,  surprised,  and  cheated  into  virtue. 
The  dialogue  between  the  gardener  and  Emilius  about 
the  Maltese  melon-seed,  is  an  instance  of  this  method 
of  instruction.  Honest  Robert,  the  gardener,  in  concert 
with  the  tutor,  tells  poor  Emilius  a  series  of  lies,  pre- 
pares a  garden,  "  choice  Maltese  melon-seed,"  and 
"  worthless  beans,"  all  to  cheat  the  boy  into  just  notions 
of  the  rights  of  property,  and  the  nature  of  exchange 
and  barter. 

Part  of  the  artificial  course  of  experience  in  that  excel- 
lent work  on  education,  Adela  and  Theodore,  is  defect- 
ive upon  the  same  principle.  There  should  be  no 
moral  delusions  ;  no  artificial  course  of  experience  ;  no 
plots  laid  by  parents  to  make  out  the  truth  ;  no  listening 
fathers,  mothers,  or  governesses;  no  pretended  con- 
fidence, or  perfidious  friends  ;  in  one  word,  no  falsehood 
should  be  practised  :  that  magic  which  cheats  the 
senses,  at  the  same  time  confounds  the  understanding. 
The  spells  of  Prospero,  the  strangeness  of  the  isle,  per- 
plex and  confound  the  senses  and  understanding  of  all 
who  are  subjected  to  his  magic,  till  at  length,  worked 
by  force  of  wonders  info  credulity,  his  captives  declare 
that  they  will  believe  any  thing ;  "  that  there  are  men 
dewlapt  like  bulls  ;  and  what  else  does  want  credit," 
says  the  Duke  Anthonio, "  come  to  me,  and  I'll  be  sworn 
'tis  true." 

Children  whose  simplicity  has  been  practised  upon 
by  the  fabling  morality  of  their  preceptors,  begin  by 
feeling  something  like  the  implicit  credulity  of  Antho- 
nio ;  but  the  arts  of  the  preceptors  are  quickly  suspected 
by  their  subjects,  and  the  charm  is  for  ever  reversed. 
When  once  a  child  detects  you  in  falsehood,  you  lose 
his  confidence  ;  his  incredulity  will  then  be  as  extrava- 
gant as  his  former  belief  was  gratuitous.  It  is  in  vain 
to  'expect,  by  the  most  eloquent  manifestoes,  or  by  the 
most  secret  leagues  offensive  and  defensive,  to  conceal 
your  real  views,  sentiments,  and  actions,  from  children. 
Their  interest  keeps  their  attention  continually  awake  ; 
not  a  word,  not  a  look,  in  which  they  are  concerned, 
G2 


148  PRACTICAL  KDUCATION. 

escapes  them  ;  they  see,  hear,  and  combine,  with  saga- 
cious rapidity ;  if  falsehood  be  in  the  wind,  detection 
hunts  her  to  discovery. 

Honesty  is  the  best  policy,  must  be  the  maxim  in  edu- 
cation, as  well  as  in  all  the  other  affairs  of  life.     We 
must  not  only  be  exact  in  speaking  truth  to  our  pupils, 
but  to  everybody  else  ;  to  acquaintance,  to  servants,  to 
friends,  to  enemies.     It  is  not  here  meant  to  enter  any 
overstrained  protest  against  the  common  phrases  and 
forms  of  politeness ;  the  current  coin  may  not  be  pure  ; 
but  when  once  its  alloy  has  been  ascertained,  and  its 
value  appreciated,  there  is  no  fraud,  though  there  may 
be  some  folly,  in.  continuing  to  trade  upon  equal  terms 
with  our  neighbours,  with  money  of  high  nominal,  and 
scarcely  any  real  value.     No  fraud  is  committed  by  a 
gentleman's  saying  he  is  not,  at  home,  because  no  decep- 
tion is  intended;  the  words  are  silly,  but  they  mean, 
and  are  understood  to  mean,  nothing  more  than  that  the 
person  in  question  does  not  choose  to  see  the  visiters 
who  knock  at  his  door.     "  I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  and 
humble  servant,"  at  the  end  of  a  letter,  does  not  mean 
that  the  person  who  signs  the  letter  is  a  servant,  or  hum- 
ble, or  obedient,  but  it  simply  expresses  that  he  knows 
how  to  conclude  his  letter  according  to  the  usual  form 
of  civility.     Change  this  absurd  phrase  and  welcome  ; 
but  do  not  let  us,  in  the  spirit  of  Draco,  make  no  dis- 
tinction between  errors  and   crimes.     The  foibles  of 
fashion  or  folly  are  not  to  be  treated  with  the  detesta- 
tion due  to  hypocrisy  and  falsehood  ;  if  small  faults  are 
to  incur  such  grievous  punishments,  there  can,  indeed,  be 
none  found  sufficiently  severe  for  great  crimes  ;  great 
crimes,  consequently,  for  want  of  adequate  punishment, 
will  increase,  and  the  little  faults,  that  have  met  with 
disproportionate  persecution,  will  become  amiable  and 
innocent  in  the  eyes  of  commiserating  human  nature. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  explain  to  young  people  the  real 
meaning,  or  rather  the  nonsense,  of  a  few  complimentary 
phrases ;  their  integrity  will  not  be  increased  or  di- 
minished by  either  saying,  or  omitting  to  say,  "  I  am 
much  obliged  to  you,"  or,  "  I  shall  be  very  happy  to  see 
you  at  dinner,"  &c.     We  do  not  mean  to  include  in  the 
harmless  list  of  compliments,  any  expressions  which  are 
meant  to  deceive ;  the  common  custom  of  the  country, 
and  of  the  society  in  which  we  live,  sufficiently  regu- 
lates the  style  of  complimentary  language  ;  and  there 


TRUTH.  149 

are  few  so  ignorant  of  the  world  as  seriously  to  misun- 
derstand this,  or  to  mistake  civility  for  friendship. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  a  Chinese  mandarin,  who 
paid  a  visit  to  a  friend  at  Paris,  at  the  time  when  Paris 
was  the  seat  of  politeness.  His  wellbred  host,  on  the 
first  evening  of  his  arrival,  gave  him  a  handsome  sup- 
per, lodged  him  in  the  best  bedchamber,  and  when  he 
wished  him  a  good  night,  among  other  civil  things,  said 
he  hoped  the  mandarin  would,  during,  his  stay  at  Paris, 
consider  that  house  as  his  own.  Early  next  morning, 
the  polite  Parisian  was  awakened  by  the  sound  of  loud 
hammering  in  the  mandarin's  bedchamber;  on  enter- 
ing the  room,  he  found  the  mandarin  and  some  masons 
hard  at  work,  throwing  down  the  walls  of  the  house. 
41  You  rascals,  are  you  mad  1"  exclaimed  the  French- 
man to  the  masons.  "  Not  at  all,  my  dear  friend,"  said 
the  Chinese  man,  soberly ;  "  I  set  the  poor  fellows  to 
work ;  this  room  is  too  small  for  my  taste ;  you  see  I 
have  lost  no  time  in  availing  myself  of  your  goodness. 
Did  not  you  desire  me  to  use  this  house  as  if  it  were 
my  own,  during  my  stay  at  Paris  T' — "  Assuredly,  my 
dear  friend,  and  so  I  hope  you  will,"  replied  the  French 
gentleman  ;  "  the  only  misfortune  here  is,  that  I  did  not 
understand  Chinese,  and  that  I  had  no  interpreter." 
They  found  an  interpreter,  or  a  Chinese  dictionary,  and 
when  the  Parisian  phrase  was  properly  translated,  the 
mandarin,  who  was  an  honest  man,  begged  his  polite 
host's  pardon  for  having  pulled  down  the  partition.  It 
was  rebuilt ;  the  mandarin  learned  French,  and  the  two 
friends  continued  upon  the  best  terms  with  each  other 
during  the  remainder  of  the  visit. 

The  Chesterfieldian  system  of  endeavouring  to  please 
by  dissimulation  is  obviously  distinguishable  by  any 
common  capacity  from  the  usual  forms  of  civility. 
There  is  no  hope  of  educating  young  people  to  a  love 
of  integrity  in  any  family  where  this  practice  is  adopted. 
If  children  observe  that  their  parents  deceive  common 
acquaintance  by  pretending  to  like  the  company  and  to 
esteem  the  characters  of  those  whom  they  really  think 
disagreeable  and  contemptible,  how  can  they  learn  to 
respect  truth  ?  How  can  children  believe  in  the  praise 
of  their  parents,  if  they  detect  them  in  continual  flat- 
ter}7 towards  indifferent  people  ?  It  may  be  thought  by 
latitudinarians  in  politeness  that  we  are  too  rigid  in  ex- 
pecting this  strict  adherence  to  truth  from  people  who 


150  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

live  in  society ;  it  may  be  said  that  in  practical  educa- 
tion, no  such  Utopian  ideas  of  perfection  should  be  sug- 
gested; If  we  thought  them  Utopian,  we  certainly 
should  not  waste  our  time  upon  them  ;  but  we  do  not 
here  speak  theoretically  of  what  may  be  done,  we  speak 
of  what  has  been  done.  Without  the  affectation  of 
using  a  more  sanctified  language  than  other  people — 
without  departing  from  the  common  forms  of  society — 
without  any  painful,  awkward  efforts,  we  believe  that 
parents  may,  in  all  their  conversation  in  private  and  in 
public,  set  their  children  the  uniform  example  of  truth 
and  integrity. 

We  do  not  mean  that  the  example  of  parents  can 
alone  produce  this  effect ;  a  number  of  other  circum- 
stances must  be  combined.  Servants  must  have  no 
communication  with  children,  if  you  wish  to  teach  them 
the  habit  of  speaking  truth.  The  education,  and  cus- 
tom, and  situation  of  servants,  are  at  present  such,  that 
it  is  morally  impossible  to  depend  upon  their  veracity  in 
their  intercourse  with  children.  Servants  think  it  good- 
natured  to  try  to  excuse  and  conceal  all  the  little  faults 
of  children  ;  to  give  them  secret  indulgences,  and  even 
positively  to  deny  facts,  in  order  to  save  them  from 
blame  or  punishment.  Even  when  they  are  not  fond 
of  the  children,  their  example  must  be  dangerous,  be- 
cause servants  do  not  scruple  to  falsify  for  their  own 
advantage ;  if  the)r  break  any  thing,  what  a  multitude 
of  equivocations  !  If  they  neglect  any  thing,  what  a 
variety  of  excuses !  What  evasions,  in  actions  or  in 
words,  do  they  continually  invent ! 

It  may  be  said,  that  as  the  Spartans  taught  their  chil- 
dren to  detest  drunkenness,  by  showing  them  intoxi- 
cated Helots,  we  can  make  falsehood  odious  and  con- 
temptible to  our  pupils,  by  the  daily  example  of  its  mean 
deformity.  But  if  children,  before  they  can  perceive 
the  general  advantage  of  integrity,  and  before  they  can 
understand  the  utility  of  truth,  see  the  partial,  imme- 
diate success  of  falsehood,  how  can  they  avoid  believing 
in  their  own  experience  ?  If  they  see  that  servants  es- 
cape blame  and  screen  themselves  from  punishment  by 
telling  falsehoods,  they  not  only  learn  that  falsehood 
preserves  from  pain,  but  they  feel  obliged  to  those  who 
practise  it  for  their  sakes ;  thus  it  is  connected  with  the 
feelings  of  affection  and  of  gratitude  in  their  hearts,  as 
well  as  with  a  sense  of  pleasure  and  safety.  When 


TRUTH.  151 

servants  have  exacted  promises  from  their  proteges, 
those  promises  cannot  be  broken  without  treachery ; 
thus  deceit  brings  on  deceit,  and  the  ideas  of  truth  and 
falsehood  become  confused  and  contradictory.  In  the 
chapter  upon  servants  we  have  expatiated  upon  this 
subject,  and  have  endeavoured  to  point  out  fcow  all  com- 
munication between  children  and  servants  may  be  most 
effectually  prevented.  To  that  chapter,  without  further 
repetition,  we  refer.  And  now  that  we  have  adjusted 
the  preliminaries  concerning  parents  and  servants,  we 
may  proceed  with  confidence. 

When  young  children  first  begin  to  speak>  from  not 
having  a  sufficient  number  of  words  to  express  their 
ideas,  or  from  not  having  annexed  precise  ideas  to  the 
words  which  they  are  taught  to  use,  they  frequently 
make  mistakes,  which  are  attributed  to  the  desire  of  de- 
ceiving. We  should  not  precipitately  suspect  them  of 
falsehood  ;  it  is  some  time  before  they  perfectly  under- 
stand what  we  mean  by  truth.  Small  deviations  should 
not  be  marked  with  too  much  rigour  ;  but  whenever  a 
child  relates  exactly  any  thing  which  he  has  seen,  heard, 
or  felt,  we  should  listen  with  attention  and  pleasure, 
and  we  should  not  show  the  least  doubt  of  his  veracity. 
Rousseau  is  perfectly  right  in  advising  that  children 
should  never  be  questioned  in  any  circumstances  upon 
which  it  can  be  their  interest  to  deceive.  We  should, 
at  least,  treat  children  with  the  same  degree  of  wise 
lenity  which  the  English  law  extends  to  all  who  have 
arrived  at  years  of  discretion.  No  criminal  is  bound  to 
accuse  himself.  If  any  mischief  has  been  committed, 
we  should  never,  when  we  are  uncertain  by  whom  it 
has  been  done,  either  directly  accuse,  or  betray  injuri- 
ous suspicions.  We  should  neither  say  to  the  child, 
"  I  believe  you  have  done  this,"  nor,  "  I  believe  you 
have  not  done  this ;"  we  should  say  nothing ;  the  mis- 
chief is  done,  we  cannot  repair  it :  because  a  glass  is 
broken,  we  need  not  spoil  a  child  ;  we  may  put  glasses 
out  of  his  reach  in  future.  If  it  should,  however,  hap- 
pen that  a  child  voluntarily  comes  to  us  with  the  history 
of  an  accident,  may  no  love  of  goods  or  chattels,  of  win- 
dows, of  china,  or  even  of  looking-glasses,  come  in 
competition  with  our  love  of  truth !  An  angry  word, 
an  angry  look,  may  intimidate  the  child,  who  has  sum- 
moned all  his  little  courage  to  make  this  confession.  It 
is  not  requisite  that  parents  should  pretend  to  be  pleased 


15*2  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

und  gratified  with  the  destruction  of  their  furniture,-— 
but  they  may,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  without  dissimulation, 
show  that  they  set  more  value  upon  the  integrity  of  their 
children  than  upon  a  looking-glass,  and  they  will  "  keep 
their  temper  still,  though  china  fall." 

H ,  ope  day  when  his  father  and  mother  were  ab- 
sent from  home,  broke  a  looking-glass.  As  soon  as  he 
heard  the  sound  of  the  returning  carriage,  he  ran  and 
posted  himself  at  the  hall  door.  His  father,  the  moment 
he  got  out  of  the  carriage,  beheld  his  erect  figure,  and 
pale  but  intrepid  countenance.  "  Father,"  said  the  boy, 
"  I  have  broke  the  best  looking-glass  in  your  house  !" 
His  father  assured  him  that  he  would  rather  all  the  look- 
ing-glasses in  his  house  should  be  broken,  than  that  one 
of  his  children  should  attempt  to  make  an  excuse. 

H was  most  agreeably  relieved  from  his  anxiety  by 

the  kindness  of  his  father's  voice  and  manner,  and  still 
more  so,  perhaps,  by  perceiving  that  he  rose  in  his  es- 
teem. When,  the  glass  was  examined,  it  appeared  that 
the  boy  had  neglected  to  produce  all  the  circumstances 
in  his  own  favour.  Before  he  had  begun  to  play  at  ball, 
he  had  had  the  precaution  to  turn  the  back  of  the  look- 
ing-glass towards  him;  his  ball,  however,  accidentally 
struck  against  the  wooden  back,  and  broke  the  glass. 

H did  not  make  out  this  favourable  state  of  the  case 

for  himself  at  first ;  he  told  it  simply  after  the  business 
was  settled,  seeming  much  more  interested  about  the 
fate  of  the  glass,  than  eager  to  exculpate  himself. 

There  is  no  great  danger  of  teaching  children  to  do 
mischief  by  this  indulgence  to  theii  accidental  misfor- 
tunes. When  they  break  or  waste  any  thing  from  pure 
carelessness,  let  them,  even  when  they  speak  the  truth 
about  it,  suffer  the  natural  consequences  of  their  care- 
lessness ;  but  at  the  same  time  praise  their  integrity, 
and  let  them  distinctly  feel  the  difference  between  the 
slight  inconvenience  to  which  they  expose  themselves 
by  speaking  the  truth,  and  the  great  disgrace  to  which 
falsehood  would  subject  them.  The  pleasure  of  being 
esteemed  and  trusted  is  early  felt,  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  deserving  confidence  is  delightful  to  children  ; 
but  their  young  fortitude  and  courage  should  never  be 
exposed  to  severe  temptations.  It  is  not  sufficient  to 
excite  an  admiration  of  truth  by  example,  by  eloquent 
praise,  or  by  the  just  rewards  of  esteem  and  affection; 
we  must  take  care  to  form  the  habits  at  the  same  time 


TRUTH.  153 

that  we  inspire  the  love  of  this  virtue.  Many  children 
admire  truth,  and  feel  all  the  shame  of  telling  falsehoods, 
who  yet,  either  from  habit  or  from  fear,  continue  to  tell 
lies.  We  must  observe,  that  though  the  taste  of  praise 
is  strong  in  childhood,  yet  it  is  not  a  match  for  any  of 
the  bodily  appetites,  when  they  are  strongly  excited. 
Those  children  who  are  restrained  as  to  the  choice  or 
the  quantity  of  their  food,  usually  think  that  eating  is  a 
matter  of  vast  consequence,  and  they  are  strongly 
tempted  to  be  dishonest  to  gratify  their  appetites.  Chil- 
dren do  not  understand  the  prudential  maxims  concern- 
ing health,  upon  which  these  restraints  are  founded ;  and 
if  they  can,  "  by  any  indirection,"  obtain  things  which 
gratify  their  palate,  they  will.  On  the  contrary,  young 
people  who  are  regularly  let  to  eat  and  drink  as  much 
as  they  please,  can  have  no  temptation  from  hunger  and 
thirst  to  deceive ;  if  they  partake  of  the  usual  family 
meals,  and  if  there  are  no  whimsical  distinctions  be- 
tween wholesome  and  unwholesome  dishes,  or  epicurean 
distinctions  between  rarities  and  plain  food,  the  imagi- 
nation and  the  pride  of  children  will  not  be  roused  about 
eating.  Their  pride  is  piqued,  if  they  perceive  that  they 
are  prohibited  from  touching  what  grown-up  people  are 
privileged  to  eat;  their  imagination  is  set  to  work  by 
seeing  any  extraordinary  difference  made  by  judges  of 
eating  between  one  species  of  food  and  another.  In 
families  where  a  regularly  good  table  is  kept,  children 
accustomed  to  the  sight  and  taste  of  all  kinds  of  food 
are  seldom  delicate,  capricious,  or  disposed  to  exceed  ; 
but  in  houses  where  entertainments  are  made  from  time 
to  time  with  great  bustle  and  anxiety,  fine  clothes,  and 
company-manners,  and  company-faces,  and  all  that  po- 
liteness can  do  to  give  the  appearance  of  festivity,  de- 
ceive children  at  least,  and  make  them  imagine  that 
there  is  some  extraordinary  joy  in  seeing  a  greater  num- 
ber of  dishes  than  usual  upon  the  table.  Upon  these 
occasions,  indeed,  the  pleasure  is  to  them  substantial ; 
they  eat  more,  they  eat  a  greater  variety,  and  of  things 
that  please  them  better  than  usual ;  the  pleasure  of  eat- 
ing is  associated  with  unusual  cheerfulness,  and  thus 
the  imagination  and  the  reality  conspire  to  make  them 
epicures.  To  these  children,  the  temptations  to  deceive 
about  sweetmeats  and  dainties  are  beyond  measure 
great,  especially  as  illbred  strangers  commonly  show 
their  affection  for  them  by  pressing  them  to  eat  what 
OS 


154  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

they  are  not  allowed  to  say  "If  you  please"  to.  Rousseau 
thinks  all  children  are  gluttons.  All  children  may  be 
rendered  gluttons ;  but  few  who  are  properly  treated 
with  respect  to  food,  and  who  have  any  literary  tastes, 
can  be  in  danger  of  continuing  to  be  fond  of  eating.  We 
therefore,  without  hesitation,  recommend  it  to  parents 
never  to  hazard  the  truth  and  honour  of  their  pupils  by 
prohibitions,  which  seldom  produce  any  of  the  effects 
that  are  expected. 

Children  are  sometimes  injudiciously  restrained  with 
regard  to  exercise  ;  they  are  required  to  promise  to 
keep  within  certain  boundaries  when  they  are  sent  out 
to  play  ;  these  promises  are  often  broken  with  impunity, 
and  thus  the  children  learn  habits  of  successful  deceit. 
Instead  of  circumscribing  their  piay-grounds,  as  they 
are  sometimes  called,  by  narrow  inconvenient  limits,  we 
should  allow  them  as  much  space  as  we  can  with  con- 
venience, and  at  all  events  exact  no  promises.  We 
should  absolutely  make  it  impossible  for  them  to  go 
without  detection  into  any  place  which  we  forbid.  It 
requires  some  patience  and  activity  in  preceptors  to 
take  all  the  necessary  precautions  in  issuing  orders,  but 
these  precautions  will  be  more  useful  in  preserving  the 
integrity  of  their  pupils,  than  the  most  severe  punish- 
ments that  can  be  devised.  We  are  not  so  unreason- 
able as  to  expect,  with  some  theoretic  writers  on  edu- 
cation, that  tutors  and  parents  should  sacrifice  the  whole 
of  their  time  to  the  convenience,  amusement,  and  edu- 
cation of  their  pupils.  This  would  be  putting  one  set 
of  beings  "  sadly  over  the  head  of  another :"  but  if  pa- 
rents would,  as  much  as  possible,  mix  their  occupations 
and  recreations  with  those  of  their  children,  besides 
many  other  advantages  which  have  been  elsewhere 
pointed  out  with  respect  to  the  improvement  of  the  un- 
derstanding, they  would  secure  them  from  many  tempt- 
ations to  falsehood.  They  should  be  encouraged  to 
talk  freely  of  all  their  amusements  to  their  parents,  and 
to  ask  them  for  whatever  they  want  to  complete  their 
little  inventions.  Instead  of  banishing  all  the  freedom 
of  wit  and  humour  by  the  austerity  of  his  presence,  a 
preceptor,  with  superior  talents,  and  all  the  resources 
of  property  in  his  favour,  might  easily  become  the 
arbiter  deliciarum  of  his  pupils. 

When  young  people  begin  to  taste  the  pleasures  of 
praise,  and  to  feel  the  strong  excitation?  of  emulation 


TRUTH.  155 

and  ambition,  their  integrity  is  exposed  to  a  new  species 
of  temptation.  They  are  tempted,  not  only  by  the  hope 
of  obtaining  "  well-earned  praise,"  but  by  the  desire  to 
obtain  praise  without  the  labour  of  earning  it.  In  large 
schools,  where  boys  assist  each  other  in  their  literary 
exercises,  and  in  all  private  families  where  masters  are 
allowed  to  show  off  the  accomplishments  of  young 
gentlemen  and  ladies,  there  are  so  many  temptations  to 
fraudulent  exhibitions,  that  we  despair  of  guarding 
against  their  consequences.  The  best  possible  method 
is  to  inspire  children  with  a  generous  contempt  for  flat- 
tery, and  to  teach  them  to  judge  impartially  of  their  own 
merits.  If  we  are  exact  in  the  measure  of  approbation 
which  we  bestow,  they  will  hence  form  a  scale  by  which 
they  can  estimate  the  sincerity  of  other  people.  It  is 
said*  that  the  preceptor  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  suc- 
ceeded so  well  in  inspiring  him  with  disdain  for  un- 
merited praise,  that  when  the  duke  was  only  nine  years 
old  he  one  day  called  his  tutor  to  account  for  having 
concealed  some  of  his  childish  faults  ;  and  when  this 
promising  boy  and  singular  prince  was  asked,  "  Why  he 
disliked  one  of  his  courtiers,"  he  answered,  "  Because 
he  flatters  me."  Anecdotes  like  these  will  make  a  use- 
ful impression  upon  children.  The  life  of  Cyrus,  in  the 
Cyropaedia ;  several  passages  in  Plutarch's  Lives ;  and 
the  lively,  interesting  picture  which  Sully  draws  of  his 
noble-hearted  master's  love  of  truth,  will  strongly  com- 
mand the  admiration  of  young  people,  if  they  read  them 
at  a  proper  time  of  life.  We  must,  however,  wait  for 
this  proper  time  ;  for  if  these  things  are  read  too  early, 
they  lose  all  their  effect.  Without  any  lectures  upon 
the  beauty  of  truth,  we  may,  now  and  then  in  conversa- 
tion, when  occurrences  in  real  life  naturally  lead  to  the 
subject,  express  with  energy  our  esteem  for  integrity. 
The  approbation  which  we  bestow  upon  those  who  give 
proofs  of  integrity,  should  be  quite  in  a  different  tone, 
in  a  much  higher  style  of  praise,  than  any  commenda- 
tions for  trifling  accomplishments  ;  hence  children  will 
become  more  ambitious  to  obtain  a  reputation  for  truth, 
than  for  any  other  less  honourable  and  less  honoured 
qualification. 


*  See  The  Life  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  in  Madame  de  la  Fite's 
agreeable  and  instructive  work  for  Children,  "  Contes,  Drames,  et 
Entretiens,"  &c. 


156  PRACTICAL    K-DD  CATION. 

We  will  venture  to  give  two  or  three  slight  instance* 
of  the  unaffected  truth  and  simplicity  of  mind  which 
we  have  seen  in  children  educated  upon  these  principles. 
No  good-natured  reader  will  suspect,  that  they  are  pro- 
duced from  ostentation :  whenever  the  children,  who 
are  mentioned,  see  this  in  print,  it  is  ten  to  one  that 
they  will  not  be  surprised  at  their  own  good  deeds. 
They  will  be  a  little  surprised,  probably,  that  it  should 
have  been  thought  worth  while  to  record  things  which 
are  only  what  they  see  and  feel  every  day.  It  is  this 
character  of  everyday  goodness  which  we  wish  to  rep- 
resent;  not  any  fine  thoughts,  fine  sentiments,  or  fine 
actions,  which  come  out  for  holyday  admiration.  We 
wish  that  parents,  in  reading  any  of  these  little  anec- 
dotes, may  never  exclaim,  "  Oh  that's  charming,  that's 
surprising  for  a  child  /"  but  we  wish  that  they  may 
sometimes  smile,  and  say,  "  That's  very  natural ;  I  am 
sure  that  is  perfectly  true  ;  my  little  boy,  or  my  little 
girl,  say  and  do  just  such  things  continually." 

March,  1 792.  We  were  at  Clifton ;  the  river  Avon 
ran  close  under  the  windows  of  our  house  in  Prince's 
Place,  and  the  children  used  to  be  much  amused  with 
looking  at  the  vessels  which  came  up  the  river.  One 
night  a  ship,  that  was  sailing  by  the  windows,  fired  some 
of  her  guns  ;  the  children,  who  were  looking  out  of  the 
windows,  were  asked  "  why  the  light  was  seen  when  the 

guns  were  fired  before  the  noise  was  heard  ?"  C ,  who 

at  this  time  was  nine  years  old,  answered, "  Because  light 
comes  quicker  to  the  eye  than  sound  to  the  ear."  Her 
father  was  .extremely  pleased  with  this  answer;  but 
just  as  he  was  going  to  kiss  her,  the  little  girl  said, 

"  Father,  the  reason  of  my  knowing  it  was,  that  L 

(her  elder  brother)  just  before  had  told  it  to  me." 

There  is,  it  is  usually  found,  most  temptation  for  chil- 
dren to  deceive  when  they  are  put  in  competition  with 
each  other,  when  their  ambition  is  excited  by  the  same 
object ;  but  if  the  transient  glory  of  excelling  in  quick- 
ness, or  abilities  of  any  sort,  be  much  inferior  to  the  per- 
manent honour  which  is  secured  by  integrity,  there  is, 
even  in  competition,  no  danger  of  unfair  play. 

March,  1792.  One  evening called  the  children 

round  the  tea-table,  and  told  them  the  following  story, 
which  he  had  just  met  with  in  "  The  Curiosities  of  Lit- 
erature." 

When  the  queen  of  Sheba  went  to  visit  king  Solomon, 


TRUTH.  157 

she  one  day  presented  herself  before  his  throne  with  a 
wreath  of  real  flowers  in  one  hand,  and  a  wreath  of  arti- 
ficial flowers  in  the  other  hand ;  the  artificial  flowers 
were  made  so  exactly  to  resemble  nature,  that  at  the 
distance  at  which  they  were  held  from  Solomon,  it  was 
scarcely  possible  that  his  eye  could  distinguish  any  dif- 
ference between  them  and  the  natural  flowers ;  nor  could 
he,  at  the  distance  at  which  they  were  held  from  him, 
know  them  asunder  by  their  smell.  ."  Which  of  these 
two  wreaths,"  demanded  the  queen  of  Sheba,  "  is  the 
work  of  nature  ?"  Solomon  reflected  for  some  minutes  ; 

and  how  did  he  discover  which  was  real  ?  S (five 

years  old)  replied,  "  Perhaps  he  went  out  of  the  room 
very  softly,  and  if  the  woman  stood  near  the  door,  as  he 
went  near  her,  he  might  see  better." 

Father.  But  Solomon  was  not  to  move  from  his  place. 

<S .  Then  he  might  wait  till  the  woman  was  tired 

of  holding  them,  and  then  perhaps  she  might  lay  them 
down  on  the  table,  and  then  perhaps  he  might  see  better. 

Father.  Well,  C ,  what  do  you  say  * 

C .  I  think  he  might  have  looked  at  the  stalks, 

and  have  seen  which  looked  stiff  like  wire,  and  which 
were  bent  down  by  the  weight  of  the  natural  flowers. 

Father.  Well,  H ? 

H .  (ten  years  old.)  I  think  he  might  send  for 

a  great  pair  of  bellows,  and  blow,  blow,  till  the  real 
leaves  dropped  off. 

Father.  But  would  it  not  have  been  somewhat  un- 
civil of  Solomon  to  blow,  blow,  with  his  great  pair  of  bel- 
lows, full  in  the  queen  of  Sheba's  face  ? 

H .  (doubting.)  Yes,  yes.     Well,  then  he  might 

have  sent  for  a  telescope,  or  a  magnifying  glass,  and 
looked  through  it ;  and  then  he  could  have  seen  which 
were  the  real  flowers,  and  which  were  artificial. 

Father.  Well,  B ,  and  what  do  you  say  T 

B .  (eleven  years  old.)  He   might   have  waited 

till  the  queen  moved  the  flowers,  and  then,  if  he  listened, 
he  might  hear  the  rustling  of  the  artificial  ones. 

Father.  S ,  have  you  any  thing  more  to  say .? 

S repeated  the  same  thing  that  B had  said  ; 

his  attention  was  dissipated  by  hearing  the  other  chil- 
dren speak.  During  this  pause,  while  S was  trying 

to  collect  his  thoughts,  Mrs.  E whispered  to  some- 
body near  her,  and  accidentally  said  the  word  animals 
loud  enough  to  be  overheard. 
14 


158  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

Father.  Well,  H ,  you  look  as  if  you  had  some- 
thing1 to  say  1 

H .  Father,  I  heard  my  mother  say  something, 

and  that  made  me  think  of  the  rest. 

Mrs.  E shook  hands  with  H ,  and  praised  him 

for  this  instance  of  integrity.     H then  said  that  "  he 

supposed  Solomon  thought  of  some  animal  which  would 
feed  upon  flowers,  and  sent  it  to  the  two  nosegays  ;  and 
then  the  animal  would  stay  upon  the  real  flowers." 

Father.  What  animal  ? 

H .  A  fly. 

Father.  Think  again. 

H .  A  bee. 

Father.  Yes. 

The  story  says,  that  Solomon,  seeing  some  bees  hover 
about  the  window,  ordered  the  window  to  be  thrown 
open,  and  watched  upon  which  wreath  of  flowers  the 
bees  settled. 

August  1st,  1796.    S (nine  years  old),  when  he 

was  reading  in  Ovid  the  fable  of  Perseus  and  Androm- 
eda, said  that  he  wondered  that  Perseus  fought  with  the 
monster ;  he  wondered  that  Perseus  did  not  turn  him 
into  stone  at  once  with  his  Gorgon  shield.  We  believe 
that  S saw  that  his  father  was  pleased  with  this  ob- 
servation. A  few  days  afterward  somebody  in  the 

family  recollected  Mr.  E 's  having  said,  that  when 

he  was  a  boy  he  thought  Perseus  a  simpleton  for  not 
making  use  of  the  Gorgon's  head  to  turn  the  monster 

into  stone.     We  were  not   sure  whether  S had 

heard  Mr.  E say  this  or  not ;  Mr.  E asked  him 

whether  he  recollected  to  have  heard  any  such  thing. 
S answered,  without  hesitation,  that  he  did  re- 
member it. 

When  children  have  formed  habits  of  speaking  truth, 
and  when  we  see  that  these  habits  are  grown  quite  easy 
to  them,  we  may  venture  to  question  them  about  their 
thoughts  and  feelings ;  this  must,  however,  be  done 
with  great  caution,  but  without  the  appearance  of  anx- 
iety or  suspicion.  Children  are  alarmed  if  they  see  that 
you  are  very  anxious  and  impatient  for  their  answer  ; 
they  think  that  they  hazard  much  by  their  reply  ;  they 
hesitate,  and  look  eagerly  in  your  face,  to  discover  by 
your  countenance  what  they  ought  to  think  and  feel, 
and  what  sort  of  answer  you  expect.  All  who  are  gov- 
erned by  any  species  of  fear  are  disposed  to  equivoca- 


TRUTH.  159 

tion.  Among  the  lower  class  of  Irish  labourers  and  under- 
tenants, a  class  of  people  who  are  much  oppressed,  you 
can  scarcely  meet  with  any  man  who  will  give  you  a 
direct  answer  to  the  most  indifferent  question ;  their 
whole  ingenuity,  and  they  have  a  great  deal  of  inge- 
nuity, is  upon  the  qui  vive  with  you  the  instant  you 
begin  to  speak ;  they  either  pretend  not  to  hear,  that 
they  may  gain  time  to  think,  while  you  repeat  your 
question,  or  they  reply  to  you  with  a  fresh  question,  to 
draw  out  your  remote  meaning ;  for  they,  judging  by 
their  own  habits,  always  think  you  have  a  remote 
meaning;  and  they  never  can  believe  that  your  words 
have  no  intention  to  insnare.  Simplicity  puzzles  them 
much  more  than  wit :  for  instance,  if  you  were  to  ask 
the  most  direct  and  harmless  question,  as,  "  Did  it  rain 
yesterday  V  the  first  answer  would  probably  be,  "Is  it 
yesterday  you  mean  ?" — "  Yes." — "  Yesterday !  No, 
please  your  honour  I  was  not  at  the  bog  at  all  yester- 
day. Wasn't  I  after  setting  my  potatoes  1  Sure  I  did 
not  know  your  honour  wanted  me  at  all  yesterday. 
Upon  my  conscience,  there's  not  a  man  in  the  country, 
let  alone  all  Ireland,  Fd  sooner  serve  than  your  honour, 
any  day  in  the  year;  and  they  have  belied>me  that  went 
behind  my  back  to  tell  your  honour  the  contrary.  If 
your  honour  sent  after  me,  sure  I  never  got  the  word,  I'll 
take  my  affidavit,  or  I'd  been  at  the  bog." — "  My  good 
friend,  I  don't  know  what  you  mean  about  the  bog ;  I 
only  ask  you  whether  it  rained  yesterday." — "  Please 
your  honour,  I  couldn't  get  a  car  and  horse  any  way,  to 
draw  home  my  little  straw,  or  I'd  have  had  the  house 
thatched  long  ago." — "  Cannot  you  give  me  a  plain 
answer  to  this  plain  question  ?  Did  it  rain  yesterday  ?" 
"  Oh  sure,  I  wouldn't  go  to  tell  your  honour  a  lie  about 
the  matter.  Sarrah  much  it  rained  yesterday  after 
'twelve  o'clock,  barring  a  few  showers  ;  but  in  the  night 
there  was  a  great  fall  of  rain  any  how  ;  and  that  was  the 
reason  prevented  my  going  to  Dublin  yesterday,  for 
fear  the  mistress's  bandbox  should  get  wet  upon  my 
cars.  But,  please  your  honour,  if  your  honour's  dis- 
pleased about  it,  I'll  not  be  waiting  for  a  loading ;  I'll 
tatfe  my  car  and  go  to  Dublin  to-morrow  for  the  slates, 
if  that  be  what  your  honour  means.  Oh  sure,  I  would 
not  tell  a  lie  for  the  entire  price  of  the  slates  ;  I  know 
very  well  it  didn't  rain  to  call  rain  yesterday.  But  after 
twelve  o'clock,  I  don't  say  I  noticed  one  way  or  other." 


160  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

In  this  perverse  and  ludicrous  method  of  beating  about 
the  bush,  the  man  would  persist  till  he  had  fairly  ex- 
hausted your  patience  ;  and  all  this  he  would  do,  partly 
from  cunning,  and  partly  from  that  apprehension  of  in- 
justice which  he  has  been  taught  to  feel  by  hard  expe- 
rience. The  effects  of  the  example  of  their  parents  are 
early  and  most  strikingly  visible  in  the  children  of  this 
class  of  people  in  Ireland.  The  children,  who  are  re- 
markably quick  and  intelligent,  are  universally  addicted 
to  lying.  We  do  not  here  scruple  or  hesitate  in  the 
choice  of  our  terms,  because  we  are  convinced  that  this 
unqualified  assertion  would  not  shock  the  feelings  of 
the  parties  concerned.  These  poor  children  are  not 
brought  up  to  think  falsehood  a  disgrace ;  they  are 
praised  for  the  ingenuity  with  which  they  escape  from 
the  cross-examination  of  their  superiors;  and  their 
capacities  are  admired  in  proportion  to  the  acuteness,  or, 
as  their  parents  pronounce  it,  Muteness,  of  their  equivo- 
cating replies.  Sometimes  (the  garqon*}  the  little  boy 
of  the  family  is  despatched  by  his  mother  to  the  land- 
lord's neighbouring  bog  or  turf-rick,  to  bring  home,  in 
their  phraseology,  in  ours  to  steal,  a  few  turfs ;  if,  upon 
this  expedition,  the  little  Spartan  be  detected,  he  is  tol- 
erably certain  of  being  whipped  by  his  mother,  or  some 
of  his  friends,  upon  his  return  home.  "  Ah,  ye  little 
brat !  and  what  made  ye  tell  the  gentleman  when  he  met 
ye,  ye  rogue,  that  ye  were  going  to  the  rick l.  And  what 
business  had  ye  to  go  and  belie  me  to  his  honour,  ye 
unnatural  piece  of  goods !  I'll  teach  ye  to  make  mis- 
chief through  the  country !  So  I  will.  Have  ye  got  no 
better  sense  and  manners  at  this  timeo'  day,  than  to  be- 
have, when  one  trusts  ye  abroad,  so  like  an  innocent!" 
An  innocent  in  Ireland,  as  formerly  in  England  (wit- 
ness the  Rape  of  the  Lock),  is  synonymous  with  a  fool. 
"  And  fools  and  innocents  shall  still  believe." 

The  associations  of  pleasure,  of  pride,  and  gayety,  are 
so  strong  in  the  minds  of  these  well-educated  children, 
that  they  sometimes  expect  the  very  people  who  suffer 
by  their  dishonesty  should  sympathize  in  the  self-com- 
placency they  feel  from  roguery.  A  gentleman  riding 
near  his  own  house  in  Ireland,  saw  a  cow's  head  and 
forefeet  appear  at  the  top  of  a  ditch,  through  a  gap  in 
the  hedge  by  the  road's  side ;  at  the  same  time  he  heard 

*  Pronounced  gossoon. 


THUTH.  161 

a  voice  alternately  threatening  and  encouraging  the 
cow;  the  gentleman  rode  up  closer  to  the  scene  of 
action,  and  he  saw  a  boy's  head  appear  behind  the  cow. 
"  My  good  boy,"  said  he,  "  that's  a  fine  cow." — "  Oh 
faith,  that  she  is,"  replied  the  boy,  "  and  I'm  teaching 
her  to  get  her  own  living,  please  your  honour."  The 
gentleman  did  not  precisely  understand  the  meaning  of 
the  expression,  and  had  he  directly  asked  for  an  expla- 
nation, would  probably  have  died  in  ignorance  ;  but  the 
boy,  proud  of  his  cow,  encouraged  an  exhibition  of  her 
talents  ;  she  was  made  to  jump  across  the  ditch  several 
times  ;  and  this  adroitness  in  breaking  through  fences 
was  termed  "  getting  her  own  living."  As  soon  as  the 
cow's  education  is  finished,  she  may  be  sent  loose  into 
the  world  to  provide  for  herself;  turned  to  graze  in  the 
poorest  pasture,  she  will  be  able  and  willing  to  live  upon 
the  fat  of  the  land. 

It  is  curious  to  observe  how  regularly  the  same  moral 
causes  produce  the  same  temper  and  character.  We 
talk  of  climate,  and  frequently  attribute  to  climate  the 
different  dispositions  of  different  nations :  the  climate 
of  Ireland  and  that  of  the  West  Indies  are  not  pre- 
cisely similar,  yet  the  following  description,  which  Mr. 
Edwards,  in  his  History  of  the  West  Indies,  gives  of^the 
propensity  to  falsehood  among  the  negro  slaves,  might 
stand,  word  for  word,  for  a  character  of  that  class  of  the 
Irish  people  who,  until  very  lately,  actually,  not  meta- 
phorically, called  themselves  slaves. 

"  If  a  negro  is  asked  even  an  indifferent  question  by 
his  master,  he  seldom  gives  an  immediate  reply ;  but 
affecting  not  to  understand  what  is  said,  compels  a  rep- 
etition of  the  question,  that  he  may  have  time  to  con- 
sider, not  what  is  the  true  answer,  but  what  is  the  most 
politic  one  for  him  to  give." 

Mr.  Edwards  assures  us,  that  many  of  these  un- 
fortunate negroes  learn  cowardice  and  falsehood  after 
they  become  slaves.  When  they  first  come  from  Africa, 
many  of  them  show  "  a  frank  and  fearless  temper  ;"* 
but  all  distinction  of  character  among  the  native  Afri- 
cans is  soon  lost,  under  the  levelling  influence  of  slavery. 
Oppression  and  terror  necessarily  produce  meanness 
and  deceit,  in  all  climates  and  in  all  ages  ;  and  wher- 
ever fear  is  the  governing  motive  in  education,  we  must 

*  Edwards's  History  of  the  West  Indies,  vol.  ii 


162  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

expect  to  find  in  children  a  propensity  to  dissimulation, 
if  not  confirmed  habits  of  falsehood.  Look  at  the  true- 
born  Briton  under  the  government  of  a  tyrannical  peda- 
gogue, and  listen  to  the  language  of  inborn  truth ;  in 
the  whining  tone,  in  the  pitiful  evasion,  in  the  stubborn 
falsehoods  which  you  hear  from  the  schoolboy,  can 
you  discover  any  of  that  innate  dignity  of  soul  which  is 
the  boasted  national  characteristic  ?  Look  again ;  look 
at  the  same  boy  in  the  company  of  those  who  inspire 
no  terror ;  in  the  company  of  his  schoolfellows,  of  his 
friends,  of  his  parents  ;  would  you  know  him  to  be  the 
same  being  1  his  countenance  is  open ;  his  attitude 
erect ;  his  voice  firm  ;  his  language  free  and  fluent ;  his 
thoughts  are  upon  his  lips ;  he  speaks  truth  without 
effort,  without  fear.  Where  individuals  are  oppressed, 
or  where  they  believe  that  they  are  oppressed,  they 
combine  against  their  oppressors,  and  oppose  cunning 
and  falsehood  to  power  and  force  ;  they  think  themselves 
released  from  the  compact  of  truth  with  their  masters, 
and  bind  themselves  in  a  strict  league  with  each  other ; 
thus  schoolboys  hold  no  faith  with  their  schoolmaster, 
though  they  would  think  it  shameful  to  be  dishonourable 
among  each  other.  We  do  not  think  that  these  max- 
ims^are  the  peculiar  growth  of  schools ;  in  private  fami- 
lies the  same  feelings  are  to  be  found  under  the  same 
species  of  culture  :  if  preceptors  or  parents  are  unjust 
or  tyrannical,  their  pupils  will  contrive  to  conceal  from 
them  their  actions  and  their  thoughts.  On  the  con- 
trary, in  families  where  sincerity  has  been  encouraged 
by  the  voice  of  praise  and  affection,  a  generous  freedom 
of  conversation  and  countenance  appears,  and  the  young 
people  talk  to  each  other,  and  to  their  parents,  with- 
out distinction  or  reserve ;  without  any  distinction  but 
such  as  superior  esteem  and  respect  dictate.  These  are 
feelings  totally  distinct  from  servile  fear :  these  feelings 
inspire  the  love  of  truth,  the  ambition  to  acquire  and 
to  preserve  character. 

The  value  of  a  character  for  truth  should  be  dis- 
tinctly felt  by  children  in  their  own  family :  while  they 
were  very  young,  we  advised  that  their  integrity  should 
not  be  tempted  ;  as  they  grow  up,  trust  should  by  de- 
grees be  put  in  them,  and  we  should  distinctly  explain 
to  them,  that  our  confidence  is  to  be  deserved  before  it 
can  be  given.  Our  belief  in  any  person's  truth  is  not  a 
matter  of  affection,  but  of  experience  and  necessity ; 


TRUTH.  •     163 

we  cannot  doubt  the  assertions  of  any  person  whom  we 
have  found  to  speak  uniformly  the  truth  ;  we  cannot  be- 
lieve any  person,  let  us  wish  to  do  it  ever  so  much,  if 
we  have  detected  him  in  falsehoods.  Before  we  have 
had  experience  of  a  person's  integrity,  we  may  hope,  or 
take  it  for  granted,  that  he  is  perfectly  sincere  and 
honest ;  but  we  cannot  feel  more  than  belief  upon  trust, 
until  we  have  actually  seen  his  integrity  tried.  We 
should  not  pretend  that  we  have  faith  m  our  pupils  be- 
fore we  have  tried  them  ;  we  may  hope  from  their 
habits,  from  the  examples  they  have  seen,  and  from  the 
advantageous  manner  in  which  truth  has  always  been 
represented  to  them,  that  they  will  act  honourably ;  this 
hope  is  natural  and  just,  but  confidence  is  another  feeling 
of  the  mind.  The  first  time  we  trust  a  child,  we  should 
not  say,  "  I  am  sure  you  will  not  deceive  me ;  I  can 
trust  you  with  any  thing  in  the  world."  This  is  flattery 
or  folly;  it  is  paying  beforehand,  which  is  not  the  way 
to  get  business  done  ;  why  cannot  we,  especially  as  we 
are  teaching  truth,  say  the  thing  that  is — "  I  hope  you 
will  not  deceive  me.  If  I  find  that  you  may  be  trusted, 
you  know  I  shall  be  able  to  trust  you  another  time  :  this 
must  depend  upon  you,  not  entirely  upon  me."  We 
must  make  ourselves  certain,  upon  these  occasions,  how 
the  child  conducts  himself;  nor  is  it  necessary  to  use 
any  artifice,  or  to  affect,  from  false  delicacy,  any  secu- 
rity that  we  do  not  feel ;  it  is  better  openly  to  say,  "  You 
see  I  do  you  the  justice  to  examine  carefully  how  you 
have  conducted  yourself;  I  wish  to  be  able  to  trust  you 
another  time." 

It  may  be  said,  that  this  method  of  strict  inquiry  re- 
duces a  trust  to  no  trust  at  all,  and  that  it  betrays  sus- 
picion. If  you  examine  evidently  with  the  belief  that  a 
child  has  deceived  you,  certainly  you  betray  injurious 
suspicion,  and  you  educate  the  child  very  ill ;  but  if  you 
feel  and  express  a  strong  desire  to  find  that  your  pupil 
has  conducted  himself  honourably,  he  will  be  glad  and 
proud  of  the  strictest  scrutiny ;  he  will  feel  that  he  has 
earned  your  future  confidence;  and  this  confidence,  which 
he  clearly  knows  how  he  has  obtained,  will  be  more 
valuable  to  him  than  all  the  belief  upon  trust  which  you 
could  affect  to  feel.  By  degrees,  after  your  pupil  has 
taught  you  to  depend  upon  him,  your  confidence  will 
prevent  the  necessity  of  any  examination  into  his  con- 
duct. This  is  the  just  and  delightful  reward  of  integ- 


164  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

rity  ;  children  know  how  to  feel  and  understand  it 
thoroughly  :  besides  the  many  restraints  from  which 
our  confidence  will  naturally  relieve  them,  they  feel  the 
pride  of  being  trusted ;  the  honour  of  having  a  charac- 
ter for  integrity  :  nor  can  it  be  too  strongly  impressed 
upon  their  minds,  that  this  character  must  be  preserved, 
as  it  was  obtained,  by  their  own  conduct.  If  one  link 
in  the  chain  of  confidence  be  broken,  the  whole  is 
destroyed.  Indeed,  where  habits  of  truth  are  early 
formed,  we  may  safely  depend  upon  them.  A  young 
person  who  has  never  deceived,  would  see  that  the 
first  step  in  falsehood  costs  too  much  to  be  hazarded. 
Let  this  appear  in  the  form  of  calculation  rather  than 
of  sentiment.  To  habit,  to  enthusiasm,  we  owe  much 
of  all  our  virtues — to  reason  more ;  and  the  more  of 
them  we  owe  to  reason,  the  better.  Habit  and  enthu- 
siasm are  subject  to  sudden  or  gradual  changes — but 
reason  continues  for  ever  the  same.  As  the  under- 
standing unfolds,  we  should  fortify  all  our  pupil's  habits 
and  virtuous  enthusiasm  by  the  conviction  of  their 
utility,  of  their  being  essential  to  the  happiness  of  so- 
ciety in  general,  and  conducive  immediately  to  the 
happiness  of  every  individual.  Possessed  of  this  con- 
viction, and  provided  with  substantial  arguments  in  its 
support,  young  people  will  not  be  exposed  to  danger, 
either  from  sophistry  or  ridicule. 

Ridicule  certainly  is  not  the  test  of  truth  ;  but  it  is  a 
test  which  truth  sometimes  finds  it  difficult  to  stand. 
Vice  never  "  bolts  her  arguments"  with  more  success 
than  when  she  assumes  the  air  of  raillery  and  the  tone 
of  gayety.  All  vivacious  young  people  are  fond  of  wit ; 
we  do  not  mean  children,  for  they  do  not  understand  it. 
Those  who  have  the  best  capacities,  and  the  strict- 
est habits  of  veracity,  often  appear  to  common  ob- 
servers absolutely  stupid,  from  their  aversion  to  any 
play  upon  words,  and  from  the  literal  simplicity  with 
which  they  believe  every  thing  that  is  asserted.  A  re- 
markably Intelligent  little  girl  of  four  years  old,  who 
had  never  in  her  own  family  been  used  to  the  common 
phrases  which  sometimes  pass  for  humour,  happened  to 
hear  a  gentleman  say,  as  he  looked  out  of  the  window 
one  rainy  morning,  "  Tt  rains  cats  and  dogs  to-day." 
The  child,  with  a  surprised  but  believing  look,  immedi- 
ately went  to  look  out  of  the  window  to  see  the  phenom- 
enon. This  extreme  simplicity  in  childhood  is  some. 


TRUTH.  165 

times  succeeded  in  youth  by  a  strong  taste  for  wit  and 
humour.  Young  people  are,  in  the  first  place,  proud  to 
show  that  they  understand  them  ;  and  they  are  gratified 
by  the  perception  of  a  new  intellectual  pleasure.  At 
this  period  of  their  education,  great  attention  must  be 
paid  to  them,  lest  their  admiration  for  wit  and  frolic 
should  diminish  their  reverence  and  their  love  for  sober 
truth.  In  many  engaging  characters  in  society,  and  in 
many  entertaining  books,  deceit  and  dishonesty  are  asso- 
ciated with  superior  abilities,  with  ease  and  gayety  of 
manners,  and  with  a  certain  air  of  frank  carelessness, 
which  can  scarcely  fail  to  please.  Gil  Bias,*  Tom 
Jones,  Lovelace,  Count  Fathom,  are  all  of  this  class  of 
characters.  They  should  not  be  introduced  to  our 
pupils  till  their  habits  of  integrity  are  thoroughly  formed ; 
and  till  they  are  sufficiently  skilful  in  analyzing  their  own 
feelings,  to  distinguish  whence  their  approbation  and 
pleasure  in  reading  of  these  characters  arise.  In  books, 
we  do  not  actually  suffer  by  the  tricks  of  rogues,  or  by 
the  lies  they  tell.  Hence  their  truth  is  to  us  a  quality 
of  no  value  ;  but  their  wit,  humour,  and  the  ingenuity 
of  their  contrivances,  are  of  great  value  to  us,  because 
they  afford  us  entertainment.  The  most  honest  man  in 
the  universe  may  not  have  had  half  so  many  adventures 
as  the  greatest-  rogue  in  a  romance ;  the  history  upon 
oath  of  all  the  honest  man's  bargains  and  sales,  law- 
suits and  losses ;  nay,  even  a  complete  view  of  his 
leger  and  daybook,  together  with  the  regular  balan- 
cings of  his  accounts,  would  probably  not  afford  quite 
so  much  entertainment,  even  to  a  reader  of  the  most  un- 
blemished integrity  and  phlegmatic  temper,  as  the  ad- 
ventures of  Gil  Bias,  and  Jonathan  Wild,  adorned  with 
all  the  wit  of  Le  Sage,  and  humour  of  Fielding.  When 
Gil  Bias  lays  open  his  whole  heart  to  us,  and  tells  us  all 
his  sins,  unwhipped  of  justice,  we  give  him  credit  for 
making  us  his  confidant,  and  we  forget  that  this  sin- 
cerity, and  these  liberal  confessions,  are  not  character- 
istic of  the  hero's  disposition,  but  essential  only  to  the 
novel.  The  novel-writer  could  not  tell  us  all  he  had 
to  say  without  this  dying  confession,  and  inconsist- 
ent openness,  from  his  accomplished  villain.  The 
reader  is  ready  enough  to  forgive,  having  never  been 
duped.  When  young  people  can  make  all  these  reflections 

*  See  Mrs.  Macauiey's  Letters  on  Educatioa 


166  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

for  themselves,  they  may  read  Gil  Bias  with  as  much 
safety  as  the  Life  of  Franklin,  or  any  other  the  most 
moral  performance.  "  Tout  est  sain  aux  sains,"*  as 
Madame  de  Sevigne  very  judiciously  observes,  in  one 
of  her  letters  upon  the  choice  of  books  for  her  grand- 
daughter. We  refer  for  more  detailed  observations 
upon  this  subject  to  the  chapter  upon  Books.  But  we 
cannot  help  here  reiterating  our  advice  to  preceptors, 
not  to  force  the  detestable  characters,  which  are  some- 
times held  up  to  admiration  in  ancient  and  modern 
history,  upon  the  common  sense,  or,  if  they  please, 
the  moral  feelings  of  their  pupils.  The  bad  ac- 
tions of  great  characters  should  not  be  palliated  by 
eloquence,  and  fraud  and  villany  should  never  be  ex- 
plained away  by  the  hero's  or  warrior's  code ;  a  code 
which  confounds  all  just  ideas  of  right  and  wrong. 
Boys,  in  reading  the  classics,  must  read  of  a  variety  of 
crimes  ;  but  that  is  no  reason  that  they  should  approve 
of  them,  or  that  their  tutors  should  undertake  to  vindi- 
cate the  cause  of  falsehood  and  treachery.  A  gentle- 
man who  has  taught  his  sons  Latin,  has  uniformly  pur- 
sued the  practice  of  abandoning  to  the  just  and  prompt 
indignation  of  his  young  pupils  all  the  ancient  heroes 
who  are  deficient  in  moral  honesty  :  his  sons,  in  read- 
ing Cornelius  Nepos,  could  not  absolutely  comprehend, 
that  the  treachery  of  Themistocles  or  of  Alcibiades 
could  be  applauded  by  a  wise  and  polished  nation. 
Xenophon  has  made  an  eloquent  attempt  to  explain  the 
nature  of  military  good  faith.  Cambyses  tells  his  son, 
that,  in  taking  advantage  of  an  enemy,  he  must  be 
"  crafty,  deceitful,  a  dissembler,  a  thief,  and  a  robber." 
Oh  Jupiter !  exclaims  the  young  Cyrus,  what  a  man, 
my  father,  you  say  I  must  be  !  And  he  very  sensibly 
asks  his  father,  why,  if  it  be  necessary  in  some  cases  to 
insnare  and  deceive  men,  he  had  not  in  his  childhood 
been  taught  by  his  preceptors  the  art  of  doing  harm  to 
his  fellow-creatures,  as  well  as  of  doing  them  good. 
"  And  why,"  says  Cyrus,  "  have  I  always  been  punished 
whenever  I  have  been  discovered  in  practising  deceit  V 
The  answers  of  Cambyses  are  by  no  means  satisfactory 
upon  this  subject ;  nor  do  we  think  that  the  conversa- 
tion between  the  old  general  and  Mr.  Williams,t  could 

*  Every  thing  is  healthful  to  the  healthy. 

t  See  Mr.  Williams's  Lectures  on  Education,  where  Xenophon  is 
quoted,  page  16,  &c.  vol.  ii. — also,  page  31, 


TRUTH.  167 

have  made  the  matter  perfectly  intelligible  to  the  young 
gentleman,  whose  scrupulous  integrity  made  him  object 
to  the  military  profession. 

It  is  certain,  that  many  persons  of  strict  honour  and 
honesty  in  some  points,  on  others  are  utterly  inconsist- 
ent in  their  principles.  Thus  it  is  said,  that  private  in- 
tegrity and  public  corruption  frequently  meet  in  the 
same  character  :  thus  some  gentlemen  are  jockeys,  and 
they  have  a  convenient  latitude  of  conscience  as  jockeys, 
while  they  would  not  for  the  universe  cheat  a  man  of  a 
guinea  in  any  way  but  in  the  sale  of  a  horse  :  others  in 
gambling,  others  in  love,  others  in  war,  think  all  strata- 
gems fair.  We  endeavour  to  think  that  these  are  all 
honourable  men  ;  but  we  hope  that  we  are  not  obliged 
to  lay  down  rules  for  the  formation  of  such  moral  prod- 
igiesj  in  a  system  of  practical  education. 

We  are  aware,  that  with  children*  who  are  educated 
at  public  schools,  truth  and  integrity  cannot  be  taught 
precisely  in  the  same  manner  as  in  private  families  ; 
because  ushers  and  schoolmasters  cannot  pay  the  same 
hourly  attention  to  each  of  their  pupils,  nor  have  they 
the  command  of  all  the  necessary  circumstances.  There 
are,  however,  some  advantages  attending  the  early  com- 
merce which  numbers  of  children  at  public  seminaries 
have  with  each  other  ;  they  find  that  no  society  can  sub- 
sist without  truth ;  they  feel  the  utility  of  this  virtue,  and 
however  they  may  deal  with  their  masters,  they  learn 
to  speak  truth  towards  each  other.  This  partial  spe- 
cies of  honesty,  or  rather  of  honour,  is  not  the  very  best 
of  its  kind,  but  it  may  easily  be  improved  into  a  more 
rational  principle  of  action.  It  is  illiberal  to  assert,  that 
any  virtue  is  to  be  taught  only  by  one  process  of  edu- 
cation :  many  different  methods  of  education  may  pro- 
duce the  same  effects.  Men  of  integrity  and  honour 
have  been  formed  both  by  private  and  public  education ; 
neither  system  should  be  exclusively  supported  by  those 
who  really  wish  well  to  the  improvement  of  mankind. 
All  the  errors  of  each  system  should  be  impartially  pointed 
out,  and  such  remedies  as  may  most  easily  be  adopted 
with  any  hope  of  success,  should  be  proposed.  We 
think,  that  if  parents  paid  sufficient  attention  to  the 
habits  of  their  children,  from  the  age  of  three  to  seven 
years  old,  they  would  be  properly  prepared  for  public 

*  Vide  Williams. 


168  PKACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

education ;  they  would  not  then  bring  with  them  to  pub- 
lic schools  all  that  they  have  learned  of  vice  and  false- 
hood in  the  company  of  servants.*  We  have  purposely 
repeated  all  this,  in  hopes  of  impressing  it  strongly. 
May  we  suggest  to  the  masters  of  these  important  sem- 
inaries, that  Greek  and  Latin,  and  all  the  elegance  of 
classical  literature,  are  matters  but  of  secondary  conse- 
quence, compared  with  those  habits  of  truth,  which  are 
essential  to  the  character  and  happiness  of  their  pupils  ? 
By  rewarding  the  moral  virtues  more  highly  than  the 
mere  display  of  talents,  a  generous  emulation  to  excel 
in  these  virtues  may  with  certainty  be  excited. 

Many  preceptors  and  parents  will  readily  agree,  that 
Bacon,  in  his  "general  distribution  of  human  knowl- 
edge," was  perfectly  right  not  to  omit  that  branch  of 
philosophy  which  his  lordship  terms  "  The  doctrine  of 
rising  in  the  world.1'  To  this  art,  integrity  at  length  be- 
comes necessary  ;  for  talents,  whether  for  business  or 
for  oratory,  are  now  become- so  cheap,  that  they  cannot 
alone  ensure  pre-eminence  to  their  possessors.  The  pub- 
lic opinion,  which  in  England  bestows  celebrity,  and  ne- 
cessarily leads  to  honour,  is  intimately  connected  with 
the  public  confidence.  Public  confidence  is  not  the  same 
thing  as  popularity  ;  the  one  may  be  won.  the  other  must 
be  earned.  There  is  among  all  parties,  who  at  present 
aim  at  political  power,  an  unsatisfied  demand  for  honest 
men.  Those  who  speculate  in  this  line  for  their  chil- 
dren, will  do  wisely  to  keep  this  fact  in  their  remem- 
brance during  their  whole  education. 

We  have  delayed,  from  a  full  consciousness  of  the 
difficulty  of  the  undertaking,  to  speak  of  the  method  of 
curing  either  the  habits  or  the  propensity  to  falsehood. 
Physicians,  for  mental  as  well  as  bodily  diseases,  can 
give  long  histories  of  maladies ;  but  are  surprisingly 
concise  when  they  come  to  treat  of  the  method  of  cure. 
With  patients  of  different  ages  and  different  tempera- 
ments, to  speak  with  due  medical  solemnity,  we  should 
advise  different  remedies.  With  young  children,  we 
should  be  most  anxious  to  break  the  habits  ;  with  chil- 
dren at  a  more  advanced  period  of  their  education,  we 
should  be  most  careful  to  rectify  the  principles.  Chil- 
dren, before  they  reason,  act  merely  from  habit ;  and 

*  See  Servants,  and  "  Public  and  Private  Education  " 


TUtiTU.  169 

without  having  acquired  command  over  themselves,  they 
have  no  power  to  break  their  own  habits;  but  when 
young  people  reflect  and  deliberate,  their  principles  are 
of  much  more  importance  than  their  habits,  because 
their  principles,  in  fact,  in  most  cases,  govern  their 
habits.  It  is  in  consequence  of  their  deliberations  and 
reflections  that  they  act ;  and,  before  we  can  change 
their  way  of  acting,  we  must  change  their  way  of  think- 
ing. 

To  break  habits  of  falsehood  in  young  children,  let  us 
begin  by  removing  the  temptation,  whatever  it  may  be. 
For  instance,  if  the  child  have  the  habit  of  denying  that 
he  has  seen,  heard,  or  done  things  which  he  has  seen, 
heard,  and  done,  we  must  not,  upon  any  account,  ever 
question  him  about  any  of  these  particulars ;  but  we 
should  forbear  to  give  him  any  pleasure  which  he  might 
hope  to  obtain  by  our  faith  in  his  assertions.  Without 
entering  into  any  explanations,  we  should  absolutely* 
disregard  what  he  says,  and  with  looks  of  cool  contempt, 
turn  away  without  listening  to  his  falsities.  A  total 
change  of  occupations,  new  objects,  especially  such  as 
excite  and  employ  the  senses,  will  be  found  highly  ad- 
vantageous. Sudden  pleasure,  from  strong  expressions 
of  affection,  or  eloquent  praise,  whenever  the  child 
speaks  truth,  will  operate  powerfully  in  breaking  his 
habits  of  equivocation.  We  do  not  advise  parents  to 
try  sudden  pain  with  children  at  this  early  age,  neither 
do  we  advise  bodily  correction,  or  lasting  penitences, 
meant  to  excite  shame,  because  these  depress  and  en- 
feeble the  mind,  and  a  propensity  to  falsehood  ultimately 
arises  from  weakness  and  timidity.  Strengthen  the 
body  and  mind  by  all  means ;  try  to  give  the  pupils  com- 
mand over  themselves,  upon  occasions  where  they  have 
no  opportunities  of  deceiving:  the  same  command  of 
mind  and  courage,  proceeding  from  the  .consciousness 
of  strength  and  fortitude,  may,  when  once  acquired,  be 
exerted  in  any  manner  we  direct.  A  boy  who  tells  a 
falsehood  to  avoid  some  trifling  pain  or  to  procure  some 
trifling  gratification,  would  perhaps  dare  to  speak  the 
truth,  if  he  were  certain  that  he  could  bear  the  pain  or 
do  without  the  gratification.  Without  talking  to  him 
about  truth  or  falsehood,  we  should  begin  by  exercising 
him  in  the  art  of  bearing  and  forbearing.  The  slightest 

*  Rousseau  and  Williams. 
15 


170  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 


trials  are  best  for  beginners,  such  as  their  fortitude  can 
bear  ;  for  success  is  necessary  to  increase  their  courage. 

Madame  de  Genlis,  in  her  Adela  and  Theodore,  gives 
Theodore,  when  he  is  about  seven  years  old,  a  box  of 
sugarplums  to  take  care  of,  to  teach  him  to  command 
his  passions.  Theodore  produces  the  untouched  treas- 
ure to  his  mother,  from  time  to  time,  with  great  self- 
complacency.  We  think  this  a  good  practical  lesson. 
Some  years  ago  the  experiment  was  tried,  with  com- 
plete success,  upon  a  little  boy  between  five  and  six 
years  old.  This  boy  kept  raisins  and  almonds  in  a  little 
box  in  his  pocket,  day  after  day,  without  ever  thinking 
of  touching  them.  His  only  difficulty  was,  to  remember 
at  the  appointed  time,  at  the  week's  end,  to  produce 
them.  The  raisins  were  regularly  counted  from  time 
to  time,  and  were,  when  found  to  be  right,  sometimes 
given  to  the  child,  but  not  always.  When,  for  several 
weeks,  the  boy  had  faithfully  executed  his  trust,  the 
time  was  extended  for  which  he  was  to  keep  the  raisins, 
and  everybody  in  the  family  expressed  that  they  were 
now  certain,  before  they  counted  the  raisins,  that  they 
should  find  the  number  exact.  This  confidence,  which 
was  not  pretended  confidence,  pleased  the'  child,  but  the 
rest  he  considered  as  a  matter  of  course.  We  think 
such  little  trials  as  these  might  be  made  with  children 
of  five  or  six  years  old,  to  give  them  habits  of  exact- 
ness. The  boy  we  have  just  mentioned  has  grown  up 
with  a  more  unblemished  reputation  for  truth  than  any 
child  with  whom  we  were  ever  acquainted.  This  is  the 
same  boy  who  broke  the  looking-glass. 

When  a  patient,  far  advanced  in  his  childhood,  is  yet 
to  be  cured  of  a  propensity  to  deceive,  the  business 
becomes  formidable.  It  is  dangerous  to  set  our  vigi- 
lance in  direct  opposition  to  his  cunning,  and  it  is  yet 
more  dangerous  to  trust  and  give  him  opportunities  of 
fresh  deceit.  If  the  pupil's  temper  is  timid,  fear  has 
probably  been  his  chief  inducement  to  dissimulation. 
If  his  temper  is  sanguine,  hope  and  success,  and  per- 
haps the  pleasure  of  inventing  schemes,  or  of  outwit- 
ting his  superiors,  have  been  his  motives.  In  one  case 
we  should  prove  to  the  patient  that  he  has  nothing  to 
fear  from  speaking  the  truth  to  us ;  in  the  other  case 
we  should  demonstrate  to  him  that  he  has  nothing  to 
hope  from  telling  us  falsehoods.  Those  who  are 
pleased  with  the  ingenuity  of  cunning,  should  have  op- 


TRUTH.  171 

portunities  of  showing  their  ingenuity  in  honourable 
employments  ;  and  the  highest  praise  should  be  given  to 
their  successful  abilities,  whenever  they  are  thus  ex- 
erted. They  will  compare  their  feelings  when  they  are 
the  objects  of  esteem  and  of  contempt,  and  they  will 
be  led  permanently  to  pursue  what  most  tends  to  their 
happiness.  We  should  never  deprive  them  of  the  hope 
of  establishing  a  character  for  integrity ;  on  the  con- 
trary, we  should  explain  distinctly  to  -them,  that  this  is 
absolutely  in  their  own  power.  Examples  from  real 
life  will  strike  the  mind  of  a  young  person  just  entering 
into  the  world,  much  more  than  any  fictitious  characters 
or  moral  stories  ;  and  strong  indignation,  expressed  in- 
cidentally, will  hav«  more  effect  than  any  lectures  pre- 
pared for  the  purpose.  We  do  not  mean  that  any  arti- 
fice should  be  used  to  make  our  lessons  impressive : 
but  there  is  no  artifice  in  seizing  opportunities,  which 
must  occur  in  real  life,  to  exemplify  the  advantage  of  a 
good  character.  The  opinions  which  young  people 
hear  expressed  of  actions  in  which  they  have  no  share, 
and  of  characters  with  whom  they  are  not  connected, 
make  a  great  impression  upon  them.  The  horror  which 
is  shown  to  falsehood,  the  shame  which  overwhelms 
the  culprit,  they  have  then  leisure  to  contemplate  ;  they 
see  the  effects  of  the  storm  at  a  distance  ;  they  dread 
to  be  exposed  to  its  violence,  and  they  will  prepare  for 
their  own  security.  When  any  such  strong  impression 
has  been  made  upon  the  mind,  we  should  seize  that 
moment  to  connect  new  principles  with  new  habits  of 
action :  we  should  try  the  pupil  in  some  situation  in 
which  he  has  never  been  tried  before,  and  where  he 
consequently  may  feel  hope  of  obtaining  reputation,  if 
he  deserve  it,  by  integrity.  All  reproaches  upon  his 
former  conduct  should  now  be  forborne,  and  he  should 
be  allowed  to  feel,  in  full  security,  the  pleasures  and 
the  honours  of  his  new  character. 

We  cannot  better  conclude  a  chapter  upon  Truth, 
than  by  honestly  referring  the  reader  to  a  charming 
piece  of  eloquence,  with  which  Mr.  Godwin  concludes 
his  essay  upon  Deception  and  Frankness.*  We  are 
sensible  how  much  we  shall  lose  by  the  comparison : 
we  had  written  this  chapter  before  we  saw  his  essay. 

*  See  The  Enquirer,  p.  101. 
H  2 


172  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ON   REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMENTS. 

To  avoid,  in  education,  all  unnecessary  severity  and 
all  dangerous  indulgence,  we  must  form  just  ideas  of 
the  nature  and  use  of  rewards  and  punishments.  Let 
us  begin  with  considering  the  nature  of  punishment, 
since  it  is  best  to  get  the  most  disagreeable  part  of  our 
business  done  the  first. 

Several  benevolent  and  enlightened  authors*  have 
endeavoured  to  explain  the  use  of  penal  laws,  and  to 
correct" the  ideas  which  formerly  prevailed  concerning 
public  justice.  Punishment  is  no  longer  considered, 
except  by  the  ignorant  and  sanguinary,  as  vengeance 
from  the  injured,  or  expiation  from  the  guilty.  We 
now  distinctly  understand,  that  the  greatest,  possible 
happiness  of  the  whole  society  .must  be  the  ultimate 
object  of  all  just  legislation;  that  the  partial  evil  of  pun- 
ishment is  consequently  to  be  tolerated  by  the  wise  and 
humane  legislator,  only  so  far  as  it  is  proved  to  be  ne- 
cessary for  the  general  good.  When  a  crime  has  been 
committed,  it  cannot  be  undone  by  all  the  art,  or  all  the 
power  of  man  ;  by  vengeance  the  most  sanguinary,  or 
remorse  the  most  painful. 

The  past  is  irrevocable  ;  all  that  remains  is  to  pro- 
vide for  the  future.  It  would  be  absurd,  after  an  offence 
has  already  been  committed,  to  increase  the  sum  of 
misery  in  the  world  by  inflicting  pain  upon  the  offender, 
unless  that  pain  were  afterward  to  be  productive  of 
happiness  to  society,  either  by  preventing  the  criminal 
from  repeating  his  offence,  or  by  deterring  others  from 
similar  enormities.  With  this  double  view  of  restrain- 
ing individuals,  by  the  recollection  of  past  sufferings, 
from  future  crimes,  and  of  teaching  others,  by  public 
examples,  to  expect  and  to  fear  certain  evils,  as  the 
necessary  consequences  of  certain  actions  hurtful  to 
society,  all  wise  laws  are  framed,  and  all  just  punish- 
ments are  inflicted.  It  is  only  by  the  conviction  that 

*  Beccaria,  Voltaire,  Blaekstone,  &c. 


REWARDS    AND     PUNIRHMKNTS.  173 

certain  punishments  are  essential  to  the  general  security 
and  happiness,  that  a  person  of  humanity  can,  or  ought 
to  fortify  his  mind  against  the  natural  feelings  of  com- 
passion. These  feelings  are  the  most  painful,  and  the 
most  difficult  to  resist,  when,  as  it  sometimes  unavoid- 
ably happens,  public  justice  requires  the  total  sacrifice 
of  the  happiness,  liberty,  or  perhaps  the  life,  of  a  fellow- 
creature,  whose  ignorance  precluded  him  from  virtue, 
and  whose  neglected  or  depraved  education  prepared 
him,  by  inevitable  degrees,  for  vice  and  all  its  miseries. 
How  exquisitely  painful  must  be  the  feelings  of  a 
humane  judge,  in  pronouncing  sentence  upon  such  a 
devoted  being !  But  the  law  permits  of  no  refined  meta- 
physical disquisitions.  'It  would  be  vain  to  plead  the 
necessitarian's  doctrine  of  an  unavoidable  connexion 
between  the  past  and  the  future,  in  all  human  actions  ; 
the  same  necessity  compels  the  punishment  that  com- 
pels the  crime  ;  nor  could,  nor  ought,  the  most  eloquent 
advocate,  in  a  court  of  justice,  to  obtain  a  criminal's 
acquittal  by  entering  into  a  minute  history  of  the  errors 
of  his  education. 

It  is  the  business  of  education  to  prevent  crimes,  and  to 
prevent  all  those  habitual  propensities  which  necessarily 
lead  to  their  commission.  The  legislator  can  consider 
only  the  large  interests  of  society ;  the  preceptor's  view 
infixed  upon  the  individual  interests  of  his  pupil.  Fortu- 
nately, both  must  ultimately  agree.  To  secure  for  his 
pupil  the  greatest  possible  quantity  of  happiness,  taking 
in  the  whole  of  life,  must  be  the  wish  of  the  preceptor ; 
this  includes  every  thing.  We  immediately  perceive 
the  connexion  between  that  happiness,  and  obedience 
to  all  the  laws  on  which  the  prosperity  of  society  de- 
pends. We  yet  further  perceive,  that  the  probability 
of  our  pupil's  yielding  not  only  an  implicit,  but  an  ha- 
bitual, rational,  voluntary,  happy  obedience,  to  such 
laws,  must  arise  from  the  connexion  which  he  believes 
and  feels  to  exist  between  his  social  duties  and  his 
social  happiness.  How  to  induce  this  important  belief 
is  the  question. 

It  is  obvious,  that  we  cannot  explain  to  the  compre- 
hension of  a  child  of  three  or  four  years  old,  all  the 
truths  of  morality  ;  nor  can  we  demonstrate  to  him  the 
justice  of  punishments,  by  showing  him  that  we  give 
present  pain  to  ensure  future  advantage.  But,  though 
we  cannot  demonstrate  to  the  child  that  we  are  just,  we 


174  PKACTICAI.    EDUCATION. 

may  satisfy  ourselves  upon  this  subject,  and  we  may 
conduct  ourselves,  during  his  nonage  of  understanding, 
with  the  scrupulous  integrity  of  a  guardian.  Before  we 
can  govern  by  reason,  we  can,  by  associating  pain  or 
pleasure  with  certain  actions,  give  habits ;  and  these 
habits  will  be  either  beneficial  or  hurtful  to  the  pupil : 
we  must,  if  they  be  hurtful  habits,  conquer  them  by 
fresh  punishments  ;  and  thus  we  make  the  helpless  child 
suffer  for  our  negligence  and  mistakes.  Formerly  in 
Scotland  there  existed  a  law,  which  obliged  every  far- 
rier who,  through  ignorance  or  drunkenness,  pricked  a 
horse's  foot  in  shoeing  him,  to  deposite  the  price  of  the 
horse  until  he  was  sound,  to  furnish  the  owner  with  an- 
other, and,  in  case  the  horse  could  not  be  cured,  the  far- 
rier was  doomed  to  indemnify  the  injured  owner.  At  the 
same  rate  of  punishment,  what  indemnification  should 
be  demanded  from  a  careless  or  ignorant  preceptor  ? 

When  a  young  child  puts  his  finger  too  near  the  fire, 
he  burns  himself;  the  pain  immediately  follows  the 
action  ;  they  are  associated  together  in  the  child's 
memory  ;  if  he  repeat  the  experiment  often,  and  con- 
stantly with  the  same  result,  the  association  will  be  so 
strongly  formed,  that  the  child  will  ever  afterward  ex- 
pect these  two  things  to  happen  together :  whenever 
he  puts  his  finger  into  fire,  he  will  expect  to  feel 
pain  ;  he  will  learn  yet  further,  as  these  things  regularly 
follow  one  another,  to  think  one  the  cause,  and  the 
other  the  effect.  He  may  not  have  words  to  express 
these  ideas ;  nor  can  we  explain  how  the  belief  that 
events  which  have  happened  together  will  again  happen 
together,  is  by  experience  induced  in  the  mind.  This  is 
a  fact,  which  no  metaphysicians  pretend  to  dispute ; 
but  it  has  not  yet,  that  we  know  of,  been  accounted  for 
by  any.  It  would  be  rash  to  assert,  that  it  will  not  in 
future  be  explained  ;  but  at  present  we  are  totally  in  the 
dark  upon  the  subject.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to 
observe,  that  this  association  of  facts,  or  of  ideas,  affects 
the  actions  of  all  rational  beings,  and  of  many  animals 
which  are  called  irrational.  Would  you  teach  a  dog  or  a 
horse  to  obey  you ;  do  you  not  associate  pleasure  or 
pain  with  the  things  you  wish  that  it  should  practise 
or  avoid  T  The  impatient  and  ignorant  give  infinitely 
more  pain  than  is  necessary  to  the  animals  they  educate. 
If  the  pain  which  we  would  associate  with  any  action, 
do  not  immediately  follow  it,  the  child  does  not  under- 


R  P.  WARDS    AND     PUN7ISHMKNTS.  175 

stand  us ;  if  several  events  happen  nearly  at  the  same 
time,  it  is  impossible  that  a  child  can  at  first  distinguish 
which  are  causes  and  which  are  effects.  Suppose  that 
a  mother  would  teach  her  little  son,  that  he  must  not  put 
his  dirty  shoes  upon  her  clean  sofa:  if  she  frowns  upon 
him,  or  speaks  to  him  in  an  angry  tone,  at  the  instant  that 
he  sets  his  foot  and  shoe  upon  the  sofa,  he  desists ;  but 
he  has  only  learned,  that  putting  a  foot  upon  the  sofa, 
and  his  mother's  frown,  follow  each  other ;  his  mother's 
frown,  from  former  associations,  gives  him  perhaps 
some  pain,  or  the  expectation  of  some  pain,  and  con- 
sequently he  avoids  repeating  the  action  which  imme- 
diately preceded  the  frown.  If,  a  short  time  after- 
ward," the  little  boy,  forgetting  the  frown,  accidentally 
gets  upon  the  sofa  without  his  shoes,  no  evil  follows 
but  it  is  not  probable  that  he  can,  by  this  single  experi- 
ment, discover  that  his  shoes  have  made  all  the  differ- 
ence in  the  two  cases.  Children  are  frequently  so  much 
puzzled  by  their  confused  experience  of  impunity  and 
punishment,  that  they  are  quite  at  a  loss  how  to  conduct 
themselves.  Whenever  our  punishments  are  not  made 
intelligible,  they  are  cruel ;  they  give  pain,  without  pro- 
ducing any  future  advantage.  To  make  punishment  in- 
telligible to  children,  it  must  be  not  only  immediately, 
but  repeatedly  and  uniformly,  associated  with  the  actions 
which  we  wish  them  to  avoid. 

When  children  begin  to  reason,  punishment  affects 
them  in  a  different  manner  from  what  it  did  while  they 
were  governed,  like  irrational  animals,  merely  by  the 
direct  associations  of  pleasure  and  pain.  They  distin- 
guish, in  many  instances,  between  coincidence  and 
causation ;  they  discover,  that  the  will  of  others  is  the 
immediate  cause,  frequently,  of  the  pain  they  suffer ; 
they  learn  by  experience  that  the  will  is  not  an  un- 
changeable cause,  that  it  is  influenced  by  circumstances, 
by  passions,  by  persuasion,  by  caprice.  It  must  be, 
however,  by  slow  degrees,  that  they  acquire  any  ideas 
of  justice.  They  cannot  know  our  views  relative  to 
their  future  happiness ;  their  first  ideas  of  the  justice 
of  the  punishments  we  inflict,  cannot,  therefore,  be  ac- 
curate. They  regulate  these  first  judgments  by  the 
simple  idea,  that  our  punishments  ought  to  be  exactly 
the  same  always  in  the  same  circumstances ;  when  they 
understand  words,  they  learn  to  expect  that  our  words 
and  actions  should  precisely  agree ;  that  we  should  keep 


176  PRACTICAL     KDUCATION. 

our  promises,  and  fulfil  our  threats.  They  next  learn, 
that  as  they  are  punished  for  voluntary  faults,  they  can- 
not justly  be  punished  until  it  has  been  distinctly  ex- 
plained to  them  what  is  wrong  or  forbidden,  and  what  is 
right  or  permitted.  The  words  right  or  wrong,  and  per- 
mitted or  forbidden,  are  synonymous  at  first  in  the  ap- 
prehensions of  children  ;  and  obedience  and  disobedience 
are  their  only  ideas  of  virtue  and  vice.  Whatever  we 
command  to  be  done,  or,  rather,  whatever  we  associate 
with  pleasure,  they  imagine  to  be  right ;  whatever  we 
prohibit,  provided  we  have  uniformly  associated  it  with 
pain,  they  believe  to  be  wrong.  This  implicit  submis- 
sion to  our  authority,  and  these  confined  ideas  of  right 
and  wrong,  are  convenient,  or  apparently  convenient, 
to  indolent  or  tyrannical  governors ;  and  they  some- 
times endeavour  to  prolong  the  reign  of  ignorance,  with 
the  hope  of  establishing  in  the  mind  an  opinion  of  their 
own  infallibility.  But  this  is  a  dangerous,  as  well  as  an 
unjust  system.  By  comparison  with  the  conduct  and 
opinions  of  others,  children  learn  to  judge  of  their 
parents  and  preceptors  ;  by  reading  and  by  conversa- 
tion, they  acquire  more  enlarged  notions  of  right  and 
wrong ;  and  their  obedience,  unless  it  then  arise  from 
the  conviction  of  their  understandings,  depends  but  on 
a  very  precarious  foundation.  The  mere  association 
of  pleasure  and  pain,  in  the  form  of  reward  and  punish- 
ment, with  any  given  action,  will  not  govern  them  ; 
they  will  now  examine  whether  there  is  any  moral  or 
physical  necessary  connexion  between  the  action  and 
punishment ;  nor  will  they  believe  the  punishment  they 
suffer  to  be  a  consequence  of  the  action  they  have  com- 
mitted, but  rather  a  consequence  of  their  being  obliged 
to  submit  to  the  will  of  those  who  are  stronger  or  more 
powerful  than  they  are  themselves.  Unjust  punish- 
ments do  not  effect  their  intended  purpose,  because  the 
pain  is  not  associated  with  the  action  which  we  would 
prohibit ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  associated  with  the 
idea  of  our  tyranny ;  it  consequently  excites  the  senti- 
ment of  hatred  towards  us,  instead  of  aversion  to  the 
forbidden  action.  When  once,  by  reasoning,  children 
acquire  even  a  vague  idea  that  those  who  educate  them 
are  unjust,  it  is  in  vain  either  to  punish  or  reward  them  ; 
if  they  submit,  or  if  they  rebel,  their  education  is  equally 
spoiled ;  in  the  one  case  they  become  cowardly,  in  the 
other  headstrong.  To  avoid  these  evils,  there  is  but 


REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMENTS.  177 

one  method  ;  we  must  early  secure  reason  for  our  friend, 
else  she  will  become  our  unconquerable  enemy.  As 
soon  as  children  are  able,  in  any  instance,  to  understand 
the  meaning  and  nature  of  punishment,  it  should,  in  that 
instance,  be  explained  to  them.  Just  punishment  is 
pain,  inflicted  with  the  reasonable  hope  of  preventing 
greater  pain  in  future.  In  a  family  where  there  are 
several  children  educated  together,  or  in  public  schools, 
punishments  may  be  inflicted  with  justice  for  the  sake 
of  example,  but  still  the  reformation  and  future  good  of 
the  sufferer  is  always  a  principal  object ;  and  of  this  he 
should  be  made  sensible.  If  our  practice  upon  all  oc- 
casions correspond  with  our  theory,  and  if  children 
really  perceive  that  we  do  not  punish  them  to  gratify 
our  own  spleen  or  passion,  we  shall  not  become,  even 
when  we  give  them  pain,  objects  of  their  hatred.  The 
pain  will  not  be  associated  with  us,  but,  as  it  ought  to 
be,  with  the  fault  which  was  the  real  cause  of  it.  As 
much  as  possible,  we  should  let  children  feel  the  natural 
consequences  of  their  own  conduct.  The  natural  con- 
sequence of  speaking  truth  is  the  being  believed ;  the 
natural  consequence  of  falsehood  is  the  loss  of  trust 
and  confidence  ;  the  natural  consequence  of  all  the  use- 
ful virtues  is  esteem  ;  of  all  the  amiable  virtues,  love  ; 
of  each  of  the  prudential  virtues,  some  peculiar  advantage 
to  their  possessor.  But  plumpudding  is  not  the  appro- 
priate reward  of  truth,  nor  is  the  loss  of  it  the  natural 
or  necessary  consequence  of  falsehood.  Prudence  is 
not  to  be  rewarded  with  the  affection  due  to  humanity, 
nor  is  humanity  to  be  recompensed  with  the  esteem 
claimed  by  prudence.  Let  each  good  and  bad  quality 
have  its  proper  share  of  praise  and  blame,  and  let  the 
consequences  of  each  follow  as  constantly  as  possible. 
That  young  people  may  form  a  steady  judgment  of  the 
danger  of  any  vice,  they  must  uniformly  perceive  that 
certain  painful  consequences  result  from  its  practice. 
It  is  in  vain  that  we  inflict  punishments,  unless  all  the 
precepts  and  all  the  examples  which  they  see  confirm 
them  in  the  same  belief. 

In  the  unfortunate  son  of  Peter  the  Great,  we  have  a 
striking  instance  of  the  effects  of  a  disagreement  be- 
tween precept  and  example,*  which,  in  a  less  elevated 
situation,  might  have  escaped  our  notice.  It  seems  as 

*  See  Cox's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  139. 
IT  3 


178  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

if  the  different  pans  and  stages  of  his  education  had 
been  purposely  contrived  to  counteract  each  other. 
Till  he  was  eleven  years  old,  he  was  committed  to  the 
care  of  women  and  of  ignorant  bigoted  priests,  who 
were  continually  inveighing  against  his  father  for  the 
abolition  of  certain  barbarous  customs.  Then  came 
Baron  Huysen  for  his  governor,  a  sensible  man,  who 
had  just  begun  to  make  something  of  his  pupil,  when 
Prince  Menzikof  insisted  upon  having  the  sole  manage- 
ment of  the  unfortunate  Alexey.  Prince  Menzikof 
abandoned  him  to  the  company  of  the  lowest  wretches, 
who  encouraged  him  in  continual  ebriety,  and  in  a  taste 
for  every  thing  mean  and  profligate.  At  length  came 
Euphrosyne,  his  Finlandish  mistress,  who,  upon  his  trial 
for  rebellion,  deposed  to  every  angry  expression  which, 
in  his  most  unguarded  moments,  the  wretched  son  had 
uttered  against  the  tyrannical  father.  Amid  such  scenes 
of  contradictory  experience,  can  we  be  surprised  that 
Alexey  Petrovitch  became  feeble,  ignorant,  and  profli- 
gate ;  that  he  rebelled  against  the  father  whom  he  had 
early  been  taught  to  fear  and  hate  ;  that  he  listened  to 
the  pernicious  counsels  of  the  companions  who  had,  by 
pretended  sympathy  and  flattery,  obtained  that  place 
in  his  confidence  which  no  parental  kindness  had  ever 
secured  ?  Those  historians  who  are  zealous  for  the 
glory  of  Peter  the  Great,  have  eagerly  refuted,  as  a  most 
atrocious  calumny,  the  report  of  his  having  had  any 
part  in  the  mysterious  death  of  his  son.  But  how  will 
they  apologize  for  the  czar's  neglect  of  that  son's  edu- 
cation, from  which  all  the  misfortunes  of  his  life  arose] 
But  all  this  is  past  for  ever ;  the  only  advantage  we 
can  gain  from  recalling  these  circumstances,  is  a  con- 
firmation of  this  important  principle  in  education  ;  that, 
when  precept  and  example  counteract  each  other,  there 
is  no  hope  of  success.  Nor  can  the  utmost  severity 
effect  any  useful  purpose,  while  the  daily  experience  of 
the  pupil  contradicts  his  preceptor's  lessons.  In  fact, 
severity  is  seldom  necessary  in  a  well-conducted  edu- 
cation. The  smallest  possible  degree  of  pain,  which 
can,  in  any  case,  produce  the  required  effect,  is  indis- 
putably the  just  measure  of  the  punishment  which  ought 
to  be  inflicted  in  any  given  case.  This  simple  axiom 
will  lead  us  to  a  number  of  truths,  which  immediately 
depend  upon  or  result  from  it.  We  must  attend  to 
every  circumstance  which  can  diminish  the  quantity 


REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMKNTS.  179 

of  pain  without  lessening  the  efficacy  of  punishment. 
Now  it  has  been  found  from  experience,  that  there  are 
several  circumstances  which  operate  uniformly  to  this 
purpose.  We  formerly  observed,  that  the  effect  of  pun- 
ishment upon  the  minds  of  children,  before  they  reason, 
depends  much  upon  its  immediately  succeeding  the  fault, 
and  also  upon  its  being  certainly  repeated  whenever  the 
same  fault  is  committed.  After  children  acquire  the 
power  of  reasoning,  from  a  variety,  of  new  motives, 
these  laws  with  respect  to  punishment  derive  additional 
force.  A  trifling  degree  of  pain  will  answer  the  pur- 
pose, if  it  be  made  inevitable  ;  while  the  fear  of  an 
enormous  proportion  of  uncertain  punishment  will  not 
be  found  sufficient  to  govern  the  imagination.  The  con- 
templation of  a  distant  punishment,  however  severe, 
does  not  affect  the  imagination  with  much  terror,  be- 
cause there  is  still  a  secret  hope  of  escape  in  the  mind. 
Hence  it  is  found  from  experience,  that  the  most  san- 
guinary penal  laws  have  always  been  ineffectual  to  re- 
strain from  crimes.*  Even  if  detection  be  inevitable, 
and  consequent  punishment  equally  inevitable,  if  punish- 
ment be  not  inflicted  as  soon  as  the  criminal  is  con- 
victed, it  has  been  found  that  it  has  not,  either  as  a  pre- 
ventive or  a  public  example,  the  same  power  upon 
the  human  mind.  Not  only  should  the  punishment  be 
immediate  after  conviction,  but  detection  should  follow 
the  offence  as  speedily  as  possible.  Without  entering 
at  large  into  the  intricate  arguments  concerning  identity 
and  consciousness,  we  may  observe,  that  the  conscious- 
ness of  having  committed  the  offence  for  which  he  suf- 
fers, ought,  at  the  time  of  suffering,  to  be  strong  in  the 
offender's  mind.  Though  proofs  of  his  identity  may 
have  been  legally  established  in  a  court  of  justice ;  and 
though,  as  far  as  it  relates  to  public  justice,  it  matters 
not  whether  the  offence  for  which  he  is  punished  was 
committed  yesterday  or  a  year  ago  ;  yet,  as  to  the 
effect  which  the  punishment  produces  on  the  culprit's 
own  mind,  there  must  be  a  material  difference. 

"  I  desire  you  to  judge  of  me,  not  by  what  I  was,  but 
by  what  I  am,"  said  a  philosopher,  when  he  was  re- 
proached for  some  of  his  past  transgressions.  If  the 
interval  between  an  offence  and  its  punishment  be  long, 
it  is  possible  that,  during  this  interval,  a  complete  change 

*  See  Beccaria,  Blackstone,  Colquhoun. 


180  PRACTICAL    F.DUCATION. 

may  be  made  in  the  views  and  habits  of  the  offender; 
such  a  change  as  shall  absolutely  preclude  all  probabil- 
ity of  his  repeating  his  offence.  His  punishment  must 
then  be  purely  for  the  sake  of  example  to  others.  He 
suffers  pain  at  the  time,  perhaps,  when  he  is  in  the  best 
social  dispositions  possible  ;  and  thus  we  punish  the 
present  good  man  for  the  faults  of  the  former  of- 
fender. We  readily  excuse  the  violence  which  a  mart 
in  a  passion  may  have  committed,  when,  upon  his 
return  to  his  sober  senses,  he  expresses  contrition  and 
surprise  at  his  own  excesses ;  he  assures  us,  and  we 
believe  him,  that  he  is  now  a  perfectly  different  person. 
If  we  do  not  feel  any  material  ill  consequences  from  his 
late  anger,  we  are  willing,  and  even  desirous,  that  the 
passionate  man  should  not,  in  his  sober  state,  be  pun- 
ished for  his  madness ;  all  that  we  can  desire  is,  to  have 
some  security  against  his  falling  into  any  fresh  fit  of 
anger.  Could  his  habits  of  temper  be  instantly  changed, 
and  could  we  have  a  moral  certainty  that  his  phrensy 
would  never  more  do  us  any  injury,  would  it  not  be 
malevolent  and  unjust  to  punish  him  for  his  old  insanity  1 
If  we  think  and  act  upon  these  principles  with  respect 
to  men,  how  much  more  indulgent  should  we  be  to  chil- 
dren! Indulgence  is  perhaps  an  improper  word — but 
in  other  words,  how  careful  should  we  be  never  to  chain 
children  to  their  dead  faults  !*  Children,  during  their 
education,  must  be  in  a  continual  state  of  progression  ; 
they  are  not  the  same  to-day  that  they  were  yesterday ; 
they  have  little  reflection ;  their  consciousness  of  the 
present  occupies  them  ;  and  it  would  be  extremely  dif- 
ficult, from  day  to  day,  or  from  hour  to  hour,  to  identify 
their  minds.  Far  from  wishing  that  they  should  dis- 
tinctly remember  all  their  past  thoughts,  and  that  they 
should  value  themselves  upon  their  continuing  the  same, 
we  must  frequently  desire  that  they  should  forget  their 
former  errors,  and  absolutely  change  their  manner  of 
thinking.  They  should  feel  no  interest  in  adhering  to 
former  bad  habits  or  false  opinions;  therefore,  their 
pride  should  not  be  roused  to  defend  these  by  our  ma- 
king them  a  part  of  their  standing  character.  The  char- 
acter of  children  is  to  be  formed — we  should  never  speak 
of  it  as  positively  fixed.  Man  has  been  defined  to  be  a 
bundle  of  habits ;  till  the  bundle  is  made  up,  we  may 

*  Mezentius. — Virgil 


REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMENTS.  181 

continually  increase  or  diminish  it.  Children  who  are 
zealous  in  defence  of  their  own  perfections,  are  of  all 
others  most  likely  to  become  stationary  in  their  intel- 
lectual progress,  and  disingenuous  in  their  temper.  It 
would  be  in  vain  to  repeat  to  them  this  sensible  and 
elegant  observation, — "  To  confess  that  you  have  been 
in  the  wrong,  is  only  saying,  in  other  words,  that  you 
are  wiser  to-day  than  you  were  yesterday."  This  re- 
mark will  rather  pique  than  comfort  the  pride  of  those 
who  are  anxious  to  prove  that  they  have  been  equally 
wise  and  immaculate  in  every  day  of  their  existence. 

It  may  be  said  that  children  cannot  too  early  be  made 
sensible  of  the  value  of  reputation  ;  and  they  must  be 
taught  to  connect  the  ideas  of  their  past  and  present 
selves,  otherwise  they  cannot  perceive,  for  instance,  why 
confidence  should  be  placed  in  them  in  proportion  to 
their  past  integrity ;  or  why  falsehood  should  lead  to  dis- 
trust. The  force  of  this  argument  must  be  admitted  ; 
yet  still  we  must  consider  the  age  and  strength  of  mind 
in  children  in  applying  it  to  practice.  Truth  is  not  in- 
stinctive in  the  mind,  and  the  ideas  of  integrity  and  of 
the  advantages  of  reputation  must  be  very  cautiously 
introduced,  lest,  by  giving  children  too  perfect  a  theory 
of  morality,  before  they  have  sufficient  strength  of  mind 
to  adhere  to  it  in  practice,  we  may  make  them  hypo- 
crites, or  else  give  them  a  fatal  distrust  of  themselves, 
founded  upon  too  early  an  experience  of  their  own 
weakness,  and  too  great  sensibility  to  shame. 

Shame,  when  it  once  becomes  familiar  to  the  mind, 
loses  its  effect ;  it  should  not,  therefore,  be  used  as  a 
common  punishment  for  slight  faults.  Nor  should  we 
trust  very  early  in  education  to  the  delicate,  secret  in- 
fluence of  conscience  ;  but  we  should  take  every  pre- 
caution to  prevent  the  necessity  of  having  recourse  to 
the  punishment  of  disgrace  ;  and  we  must,  if  we  mean 
to  preserve  the  power  of  conscience,  take  care  that  it 
be  never  disregarded  with  impunity.  We  must  avoid 
opposing  it  to  strong  temptation ;  nor  should  we  ever 
try  the  integrity  of  children,  except  in  situations  where 
we  can  be  perfectly  certain  of  the  result  of  the  experi- 
ment. We  must  neither  run  the  risk  of  injuring  them 
by  unjust  suspicions  nor  unmerited  confidence.  By 
prudent  arrangements,  and  by  unremitted  daily  attention, 
we  should  absolutely  prevent  the  possibility  of  deceit. 
By  giving  a  few  commands  or  prohibitions,  we  may 
16 


182  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

avoid  the  danger  of  either  secret  or  open  disobedience. 
By  diminishing  temptations  to  do  wrong,  we  act  more 
humanely  than  by  multiplying  restraints  and  punish- 
ments. 

It  has  been  found  that  no  restraints  or  punishments 
have  proved  adequate  to  ensure  obedience  to  laws, 
whenever  strong  temptations,  and  many  probabilities 
of  evasion,  combine  in  opposition  to  conscience  or  fear. 
The  terrors  of  the  law  have  been  for  years  ineffectually 
directed  against  a  race  of  beings  called  smugglers ;  yet 
smuggling  is  still  an  extensive,  lucrative,  and  not  univer- 
sally discreditable  profession.  Let  any  person  look  into 
the  history  of  the  excise  laws  in  England,*  and  he  will  be 
astonished  at  the  accumulation  of  penal  statutes,  which 
the  active,  but  ineffectual  ingenuity  of  prohibitory  legis- 
lators has  devised  in  the  course  of  about  thirty  years. 
Open  war  was  declared  against  all  illegal  distillers  ;  yet 
the  temptation  to  illegal  distilling  continually  increased, 
in  proportion  to  the  heavy  duties  laid  upon  the  fair 
trader.  It  came  at  length  to  a  trial  of  skill  between 
revenue  officers  and  distillers,,  which  could  cheat,  or 
which  could  detect,  the  fastest.  The  distiller  had  the 
strongest  interest  in  the  business,  and  he  usually  came 
off  victorious.  Coursing  officers  and  watching  officers 
(once  ten  watching  officers  were  set  upon  one  distiller), 
and  surveyors  and  supervisors,  multiplied  without  end  : 
the  land  in  their  fiscal  maps  was  portioned  out  into  divis- 
ions and  districts,  and  each  gauger  had  the  charge  of  all 
the  distillers  in  his  division :  the  watching  officer  went 
first,  and  the  coursing  officer  went  after  him,  and  after 
him  the  supervisor  ;  and  they  had  table-books,  and  gau- 
ging-rods,  and  dockets,  and  permits ;  permits  for  sellers, 
and  permits  for  buyers,  and  permits  for  foreign  spirits, 
printed  in  red  ink,  and  permits  for  British  spirits,  in  black 
ink ;  and  they  went  about  night  and  day  with  their  hy- 
drometers, to  ascertain  the  strength  of  spirits ;  and  with 
their  gauging-rods,  to  measure  wash.  But  the  perti- 
nacious distiller  was  still  flourishing ;  permits  were 
forged ;  concealed  pipes  were  fabricated ;  and  the  pro- 
portion between  the  wash  and  spirits  was  seldom  legal. 
The  commissioners  complained,  and  the  legislators 
went  to  work  again.  Under  a  penalty  of  100/.,  distillers 

*  See  An  Inquiry  into  the  Principles  of  Taxation,  p.  37,  published 
in  1790. 


REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMENTS.  183 

were  ordered  to  paint  the  words  distiller,  dealer  in  spir- 
its, over  their  doors  ;  and  it  was  further  enacted  that  all 
the  distillers  should  furnish,  at  their  own  expense,  any 
kind  of  locks  and  fastenings  which  the  revenue  officers 
should  require  for  locking  up  the  doors  of  their  own 
furnaces,  the  heads  of  their  own  stills,  pumps,  pipes,  &c. 
First,  suspicions  fell  upon  the  public  distiller  for  ex- 
portation ;  then  his  utensils  were  locked  up  ;  afterward 
the  private  distiller  was  suspected,  and  he  was  locked 
up ;  then  they  set  him  and  his  furnaces  at  liberty,  and 
went  back  in  a  passion  to  the  public  distiller.  The 
legislature  condescended  to  interfere,  and  with  a  new 
lock  and  key,  precisely  described  in  an  act  of  Parliament, 
it  was  hoped  all  would  be  made  secure.  Any  person, 
being  a  distiller,  who  should  lock  up  his  furnace  or  pipes 
with  a  key  constructed  differently  from  that  which  the 
act  described,  or  any  person  making  such  illegal  key  for 
said  distiller,  was  subject  to  the  forfeiture  of  10QL  The 
padlock  was  never  fixed  upon  the  mind,  and  even  the 
lock  and  key,  prescribed  by  act  of  Parliament,  were 
found  inefficacious.  Any  common  blacksmith,  with  a 
picklock  in  his  possession,  laughed  at  the  combined  skill 
of  the  two  houses  of  Parliament. 

This  digression  from  the  rewards  and  punishments 
of  children  to  the  distillery  laws,  may,  it  is  hoped,  be 
pardoned,  if  the  useful  moral  can  be  drawn  from  it,  that, 
where  there  are  great  temptations  to  fraud,  and  con- 
tinual opportunities  of  evasion,  no  laws,  however  in- 
genious, no  punishments,  however  exorbitant,  can  avail. 
The  history  of  coiners,  venders,  and  utterers  of  his 
majesty's  coin,  as  lately  detailed  to  us  by  respectable 
authority,*  may  afford  further  illustration  of  this  prin- 
ciple. 

There  is  no  imminent  danger  of  children  becoming 
either  coiners  or  fraudulent  distillers  ;  but  an  ingenious 
preceptor  will  not  be  much  puzzled  in  applying  the  re- 
marks that  have  been  made  to  the  subject  of  education. 
For  the  anticlimax,  in  descending  from  the  legislation 
of  men  to  the  government  of  children,  no  apology  is  at- 
tempted. 

The  fewer  the  laws  we  make  for  children,  the  better. 
Whatever  they  may  be,  they  should  be  distinctly  ex- 
pressed ;  the  letter  and  spirit  should  both  agree,  and  the 

*  Colquhoun.    On  the  Police  of  the  Metropolis. 


184  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

words  should  bear  but  one  signification,  clear  to  all  the 
parties  concerned.  They  should  never  be  subject  to 
the  ex  post  facto  interpretation  of  an  angry  preceptor 
or  a  cunning  pupil ;  no  loose  general  terms  should  per- 
mit tyranny  or  encourage  quibbling.  There  is  said*  to 
be  a  Chinese  law,  which  decrees  that  whoever  does  not 
show  proper  respect  to  the  sovereign,  is  to  be  punished 
with  death.  What  is  meant  by  the  words  proper  respect, 
is  not  defined.  Two  persons  made  a  mistake  in  some 
account  of  a  significant  affair,  in  one  of  their  court  ga- 
zettes. It  was  declared,  that  to  lie  in  a  court  gazette  is 
to  be  wanting  in  proper  respect  to  the  court.  Both  the 
careless  scribes  were  put  to  death.  One  of  the  princes 
of  the  blood  inadvertently  put  some  mark  upon  a  memo- 
rial which  had  been  signed  by  the  Emperor  Bogdo 
Chan.  This  was  construed  to  be  a  want  of  proper  re- 
spect to  Bogdo  Chan  the  emperor,  and  a  horrible  perse- 
cution hence  arose  against  the  scrawling  prince  and  his 
whole  family.  May  no  schoolmasters,  ushers,  or  others, 
ever  (even  as  far  as  they  are  able)  imitate  Bogdo  Chan, 
and  may  they  always  define  to  their  subjects  what  they 
mean  by  proper  respect ! 

There  is  a  sort  of  mistaken  mercy  sometimes  shown 
to  children,  which  is,  in  reality,  the  greatest  cruelty. 
People  who  are  too  angry  to  refrain  from  threats,  are 
often  too  indolent,  or  too  compassionate,  to  put  their 
threats  in  execution.  Between  their  words  and  actions 
there  is  hence  a  manifest  contradiction  ;  their  pupils 
learn,  from  experience,  either  totally  to  disregard  these 
threats,  or  else  to  calculate,  from  the  various  degrees 
of  anger  which  appear  in  the  threatened  countenance, 
what  real  probability  there  is  of  his  being  as  good  or  as 
bad  as  his  word.  Far  from  perceiving  that  punishment, 
in  this  case,  is  pain  given  with  the  reasonable  hope  of 
making  him  wiser  or  happier,  the  pupil  is  convinced,  that 
his  master  punishes  him  only  to  gratify  the  passion  of 
anger,  to  which  he  is  unfortunately  subject.  Even  sup- 
posing that  threateners  are  exact  in  fulfilling  their 
threats,  and  that  they  are  not  passionate,  but  simply 
wish  to  avoid  giving  pain,  they  endeavour  to  excite  the 
fears  of  their  pupils  as  the  means  of  governing  them 

*  See  the  grand  instructions  to  the  commissioners  appointed  to 
frame  a  new  code  of  laws  for  the  Russian  empire,  p.  183,  said  to  have 
been  drawn  up  by  the  late  Lord  Mansfield. 


REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMENTS.  185 

with  the  least  possible  pain.  But  with  fear  they  excite 
all  the  passions  and  habits  which  are  connected  with 
that  mean  principle  of  action,  and  they  extinguish  that 
vigorous  spirit,  that  independent  energy  of  soul,  which 
is  essential  to  all  the  active  and  manly  virtues.  Young 
people  who  find  that  their  daily  pleasures  depend  not 
so  much  upon  their  own  exertions  as  upon  the  humour 
and  caprice  of  others,  become  absolute  courtiers  ;  they 
practise  all  the  arts  of  persuasion,  and-  all  the  crouching 
hypocrisy  which  can  deprecate  wrath,  or  propitiate  fa- 
vour. Their  notions  of  right  and  wrong  cannot  be  en- 
larged ;  their  recollection  of  the  rewards  and  punish- 
ments of  their  childhood  is  always  connected  with  the 
ideas  of  tyranny  and  slavery ;  and  when  they  break 
their  own  chains,  they  are  impatient  to  impose  similar 
bonds  upon  their  inferiocs. 

An  argument  has  been  used  to  prove,  that  in  some 
cases  anger  is  part  of  the  justice  of  punishment,  because 
"  mere  reproof,  without  sufficient  marks  of  displeasure 
and  emotion,  affects  a  child  very  little,  and  is  soon  for- 
gotten."* It  cannot  be  doubted,  that  the  expression  of 
indignation  is  a  just  consequence  of  certain  faults  ;  and 
the  general  indignation  with  which  these  are  spoken  of 
before  young  people,  must  make  a  strong  and  useful 
impression  upon  their  minds.  They  reflect  upon  the 
actions  of  others ;  they  see  the  effects  which  these 
produce  upon  the  human  mind  ;  they  put  themselves  in 
the  situation  alternately  of  the  person  who  expresses 
indignation,  and  of  him  who  suffers  shame  ;  they  meas- 
ure the  fault  and  its  consequences ;  and  they  resolve  to 
conduct  themselves  so  as  to  avoid  that  just  indignation 
of  which  they  dread  to  be  the  object.  These  are  the 
general  conclusions  which  children  draw  when  they  are 
impartial  spectators ;  but  where  they  are  themselves  con- 
cerned, their  feelings  and  their  reasonings  are  very  dif- 
ferent. If  they  have  done  any  thing  which  they  know 
to  be  wrong,  they  expect,  and  are  sensible  that  they  de- 
serve, displeasure  and  indignation ;  but  if  any  precise 
penalty  is  annexed  to  the  fault,  the  person  who  is  to 
inflict  it  appears  to  them  in  the  character  of  a  judge,  who 
is  bound  to  repress  his  own  feelings,  and  coolly  to  execute 
justice.  If  the  judge  both  reproaches  and  punishes,  he 

*  See  Dr.  Priestley's  Miscellaneous  Observations  relating  to  Echv 
cation,  sect,  vii.  of  correction,  p.  67, 


186  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

doubles  the  punishment.  Whenever  indignation  is  ex- 
pressed, no  vulgar  trivial  penalties  should  accompany  it  ,• 
the  pupil  should  feel  that  it  is  indignation  against  his  fault, 
and  not  against  himself;  and  that  it  is  not  excited  in  his 
preceptor's  mind  by  any  petty  personal  considerations. 
A  child  distinguishes  between  anger  and  indignation 
very  exactly ;  the  one  commands  his  respect,  the  other 
raises  {n's  contempt  as  soon  as  his  fears  subside.  Dr. 
Priestley  seems  to  think  that  "  it  is  not  possible  to  ex- 
press displeasure  with  sufficient  force,  especially  to  a 
child,  when  a  man  is  perfectly  cool."  May  we  not 
reply  to  this,  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  express  dis- 
pleasure with  sufficient  propriety ',  especially  to  a  child, 
when  a  man  is  in  a  passion  ?  The  propriety  is,  in  this 
case,  of  at  least  as  much  consequence  as  the  force  of 
the  reprimand.  The  effect  which  the  preceptor's  dis- 
pleasure will  produce,  must  be  in  some  proportion  to 
the  esteem  which  the  pupil  feels  for  him*.  If  he  cannot 
command  his  irascible  passions,  his  pupil  cannot  con- 
tinue to  esteem  him ;  and  there  is  an  end  of  all  that 
fear  of  his  disapprobation,  which  was  founded  upon 
esteem,  and  which  can  never  be  founded  upon  a  stronger 
or  a  better  basis.  We  should  further  consider,  that 
the  opinions  of  all  the  by-standers,  especially  if  they  be 
any  of  them  of  the  pupil's  own  age,  have  great  influ- 
ence upon  his  mind.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  they 
should  all  sympathize  equally  with  the  angry  preceptor ; 
and  we  know  that  whenever  the  indignation  expressed 
against  any  fault  appears,  in  the  least,  to  pass  the 
bound  of  exact  justice,  the  sympathy  of  the  spectators 
immediately  revolts  in  favour  of  the  culprit ;  the  fault 
is  forgotten  or  excused,  and  all  join  in  spontaneous 
compassion.  In  public  schools,  this  happens  so  fre- 
quently, that  the  master's  displeasure  seldom  affects  the 
little  community  with  any  sorrow ;  combined  together, 
they  make  each  other  amends  for  public  punishments, 
by  private  pity  or  encouragement.  In  families  which 
are  not  well  regulated,  that  is  to  say,  in  which  the  in- 
terests of  all  the  individuals  do  not  coalesce,  the  same 
evils  are  to  be  dreaded.  Neither  indignation  nor  shame 
can  affect  children  in  such  schools  or  such  families  ; 
the  laws  and  manners,  public  precept  and  private  opin- 
ion, contradict  each  other. 

In  a  variety  of  instances  in  society,  we  may  observe, 
that  the  best  laws  and  the  best  principles  are  not  suffi- 


REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMENTS.  187 

cient  to  resist  the  combination  of  numbers.  Never 
attempt  to  affix  infamy  to  a  number  of  people  at  once, 
says  a  philosophic  legislator.*  This  advice  showed  that 
he  perfectly  understood  the  nature  of  the  passion  of 
shame.  Numbers  keep  one  another  in  countenance ; 
they  form  a  society  for  themselves  ;  and  sometimes  by 
peculiar  phrases,  and  an  appropriate  language,  confound 
the  established  opinion  of  virtue  and  vice,  and  enjoy  a 
species  of  self-complacency  independent  of  public  opin- 
ion, and  often  in  direct  opposition  to  their  former  con- 
science. Whenever  any  set  of  men  want  to  get  rid  of 
the  shame  annexed  to  particular  actions,  they  begin  by 
changing  the  names  and  epithets  which  have  been  gen- 
erally used  to  express  them,  and  which  they  know  are 
associated  with  the  feelings  of  shame :  these  feelings 
are  not  awakened  by  the  new  language,  and  by  degrees 
they  are  forgotten,  or  they  are  supposed  to  have  been 
merely  prejudices  and  habits,  which  former  methods  of 
speaking  taught  people  to  reverence.  Thus  the  most 
disgraceful  combinations  of  men,  who  live  by  violating 
and  evading  the  laws  of  society,  have  all  a  peculiar 
phraseology  among  themselves,  by  which  jocular  ideas 
are  associated  with  the  most  disreputable  actions. 

Those  who  live  by  depredation  on  the  river  Thames, 
do  not  call  themselves  thieves,  but  lumpers  and  mudlarks. 
Coiners  give  regular  mercantile  names  to  the  different 
branches  of  their  trade,  and  to  the  various  kinds  of  false 
money  which  they  circulate  :  such  as  flats,  or  figs,  or 
Jig-things.  Unlicensed  lottery-wheels  are  called  little 
goes ;  and  the  men  who  are  sent  about  to  public  houses 
to  entice  poor  people  into  illegal  lottery-ensurances,  are 
called  Morocco-men:  a  set  of  villains,  hired  by  these 
fraudulent  lottery-keepers,  to  resist  the  civil  power 
during  the  drawing  of  the  lottery,  call  themselves 
bludgeon-men ;  and  in  the  language  of  robbers,  a  receiver 
of  stolen  goods  is  said  to  be  stanch,  when  it  is  believed 
that  he  will  go  all  lengths  rather  than  betray  the  secrets 
of  a  gang  of  highwaymen.! 

Since  words  have  such  power  in  their  turn  over  ideas, 
we  must,  in  education,  attend  to  the  language  of  chil- 
dren as  a  means  of  judging  of  the  state  of  their  minds; 
and  whenever  we  find  that  in  their  conversation  with 


*  See  Code  of  Russian  Laws, 
t  Colquhoun. 


188  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

one  another  they  have  any  slang  which  turns  moral 
ideas  into  ridicule,  we  may  be  certain  that  this  must 
have  arisen  from  some  defect  in  their  education.  The 
power  of  shame  must  then  be  tried  in  some  new  shape, 
to  break  this  false  association  of  ideas.  Shame  in  a 
new  shape  affects  the  mind  with  surprising  force,  in  the 
same  manner  as  danger  in  a  new  form  alarms  the  courage 
of  veterans.  An  extraordinary  instance  of  this  may  be 
observed  in  the  management  of  Gloucester  jail :  a  blue 
and  yellow  jacket  has  been  found  to  have  a  most  power- 
ful effect  upon  men  supposed  to  be  dead  to  shame.  The 
keeper  of  the  prison  told  us,  that  the  most  unruly 
offenders  could  be  kept  in  awe  by  the  dread  of  a  dress 
which  exposed  them  to  the  ridicule  of  their  companions, 
no  new  term  having  been  yet  invented  to  counteract  the 
terrors  of  the  yellow  jacket.  To  prevent  the  mind 
from  becoming  insensible  to  shame,  it  must  be  very 
sparingly  used  ;  and  the  hope  and  possibility  of  recover- 
ing esteem  must  always  be  kept  alive.  Those  who  are 
excluded  from  hope  are  necessarily  excluded  from  vir- 
tue ;  the  loss  of  reputation,  we  see,  is  almost  always 
followed  by  total  depravity.  The  cruel  prejudices 
which  are  harboured  against  particular  classes  of  people, 
usually  tend  to  make  the  individuals  who  are  the  best 
disposed  among  these  sects,  despair  of  obtaining  esteem  ; 
and,  consequently,  careless  about'  deserving  it.  There 
can  be  nothing  inherent  in  the  knavish  propensity  of 
Jews ;  but  the  prevailing  opinion,  that  avarice,  dishon- 
esty, and  extortion,  are  the  characteristics  of  a  Jew, 
has  probably  induced  many  of  the  tribe  to  justify  the 
antipathy  which  they  could  not  conquer.  Children  are 
frequently  confirmed  in  faults,  by  the  imprudent  and 
cruel  custom  which  some  parents  have  of  settling  early 
in  life,  that  such  a  thing  is  natural ;  that  such  and  such 
dispositions  are  not  to  be  cured ;  that  cunning,  per- 
haps, is  the  characteristic  of  one  child,  and  caprice  of 
another.  This  general  odium  oppresses  and  dispirits  : 
such  children  think  it  is  in  vain  to  struggle  against  na- 
ture, especially  as  they  do  not  clearly  understand  what 
is  meant  by  nature.  They  submit  to  our  imputations, 
without  knowing  how  to  refute  them.  On  the  contrary, 
if  we  treat  them  with  more  good  sense  and  benevolence, 
if  we  explain  to  them  the  nature  of  the  human  mind, 
and  if  we  lay  open  to  them  the  history  of  their  own, 
they  will  assist  us  in  endeavouring  to  cure  their  faults, 


REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMENTS.  189 

and  they  will  not  be  debilitated  by  indistinct,  supersti- 
tious fears.  At  ten  or  eleven  years  old,  children  are 
capable  of  understanding  some  of  the  general  principles 
of  rational  morality ;  and  these  they  can  apply  to  their 
own  conduct  in  many  instances,  which,  however  trivial 
they  may  appear,  are  not  beneath  our  notice. 

June  16,  1796.  S (nine  years  old)  had  lost  his 

pencil ;  his  father  said  to  him,  "  I  wish  to  give  you  an- 
other pencil,  but  I  am  afraid  I  should  do  you  harm  if  I 
did  ;  you  would  not  take  care  of  your  things  if  you  did 
not  feel  some  inconvenience  when  you  lose  them." 
The  boy's  lips  moved  as  if  he  were  saying  to  himself, 
"  I  understand  this  ;  it  is  just."  His  father  guessed  that 
these  were  the  thoughts  that  were  passing  in  his  mind, 
and  asked  whether  he  interpreted  rightly  the  motion  of 

the  lips.  "  Yes,"  said  S ,  "  that  was  exactly  what  I 

was  thinking."  "  Then,"  said  his  father,  "  I  will  give 
you  a  bit  of  my  own  pencil  this  instant :  all  I  want  is  to 
make  the  necessary  impression  upon  your  mind ;  that 
is  all  the  use  of  punishment ;  you  know  we  do  not  want 
to  torment  you." 

As  young  people  grow  up,  and  perceive  the  conse- 
quences of  their  own  actions,  and  the  advantages  of 
credit  and  character,  they  become  extremely  solicitous 
to  preserve  the  good  opinion  of  those  whom  they  love 
and  esteem.  They  are  now  capable  of  taking  the  future 
into  their  view,  as  well  as  the  present ;  and  at  this  pe- 
riod of  their  education,  the  hand  of  authority  should 
never  be  hastily  used ;  the  voice  of  reason  will  never 
fail  to  make  itself  heard,  especially  if  reason  speak 
with  the  tone  of  affection.  During  the  first  years  of 
childhood,  it  did  not  seem  prudent  to  make  any  punish- 
ment lasting,  because  young  children  quickly  forget 
their  faults ;  and  having  little  experience,  cannot  feel 
how  their  past  conduct  is  likely  to  affect  their  future 
happiness :  but  as  soon  as  they  have  more  enlarged 
experience,  the  nature  of  their  punishments  should  alter; 
if  we  have  any  reason  to  esteem  or  love  them  less,  our 
contempt  and  displeasure  should  not  lightly  be  dissi- 
pated. Those  who  reflect,  are  more  influenced  by  the 
idea  of  the  duration  than  of  the  intensity  of  any  mental 
pain.  In  those  calculations  which  are  constantly  made 
before  we  determine  upon  action  or  forbearance,  some 
tempers  estimate  any  evil  which  is  likely  to  be  but  of 
short  duration,  infinitely  below  its  real  importance/ 


190  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

Young  men  of  sanguine  and  courageous  dispositions, 
hence  frequently  act  imprudently  ;  the  consequences 
of  their  temerity  will,  they  think,  soon  be  over,  and 
they  feel  that  they  are  able  to  support  evil  for  a  short 
time,  however  great  it  may  be.  Anger,  they  know,  is 
a  short-lived  passion,  and  they  do  not  scruple  running 
the  hazard  of  exciting  anger  in  the  hearts  of  those  they 
love  the  best  in  the  world.  The  experience  of  lasting, 
sober  disapprobation,  is  intolerably  irksome  to  them ; 
any  inconvenience  which  continues  for  a  length  of  time, 
wearies  them  excessively.  After  they  have  endured, 
as  the  consequence  of  any  actions,  this  species  of  pun- 
ishment, they  will  long  remember  their  sufferings,  and 
will  carefully  avoid  incurring  in  future  similar  penalties. 
Sudden  and  transient  pain  appears  to  be  most  effectual 
with  persons  of  an  opposite  temperament. 

Young  people  of  a  torpid,  indolent  temperament,  are 
much  under  the  dominion  of  habit ;  if  they  happen  to 
have  contracted  any  disagreeable  or  bad  habits,  they 
have  seldom  sufficient  energy  to  break  them.  The 
stimulus  of  sudden  pain  is  necessary  in  this  case.  The 
pupil  may  be  perfectly  convinced  that  such  a  habit  ought 
to  be  broken,  and  may  wish  to  break  it  most  sincerely; 
but  may  yet  be  incapable  of  the  voluntary  exertion  re- 
quisite to  obtain  success.  It  would  be  dangerous  to  let 
the  habit,  however  insignificant,  continue  victorious ; 
because  the  child  would  hence  be  discouraged  from  all 
future  attempts  to  battle  with  himself.  Either  we  should 
not  attempt  the  conquest  of  the  habit,  or  we  should  per- 
sist till  we  have  vanquished.  The  confidence  which 
this  sense  of  success  will  give  the  pupil,  will  probably, 
in  his  own  opinion,  be  thought  well  worth  the  price. 
Neither  his  reason  nor  his  will  was  in  fault ;  all  he 
wanted  was  strength  to  break  the  diminutive  chains  of 
habit ;  chains  which,  it  seems,  have  power  to  enfeeble 
their  captives,  exactly  in  proportion  to  the  length  of 
time  they  are  worn. 

Everybody  has  probably  found,  from  his  own  expe- 
rience,'how  difficult  it  is  to  alter  little  habits  in  man- 
ners, pronunciation,  &c.  Children  are  often  teased 
with  frequent  admonitions  about  their  habits  of  sitting, 
standing,  walking,  talking,  eating,  speaking,  &c.  Pa- 
rents are  early  aware  of  the  importance  of  agreeable, 
graceful  manners ;  everybody  who  sees  children  can 
judge,  or  thinks  that  he  can  judge,  of  their  manners  : 


REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMENTS.  191 

and  from  anxiety  that  children  should  appear  to  advan- 
tage in  company,  parents  solicitously  watch  all  their 
gestures,  and  correct  all  their  attitudes  according  to  that 
image  of  the  "  beau  ideaP  which  happens  to  be  most 
fashionable.  The  most  convenient  and  natural  attitudes 
are  not  always  the  most  approved.  The  constraint 
which  children  suffer  from  their  obedience,  obliges  them 
at  length  to  rest  their  tortured  muscles,  and  to  throw 
themselves,  for  relief,  into  attitudes  the  very  reverse  of 
those  which  they  have  practised  with  so  much  pain. 
Hence  they  acquire  opposite  habits  in  their  manners, 
and  there  is  a  continual  struggle  between  these.  They 
find  it  impossible  to  correct,  instantaneously,  the  awk- 
ward tricks  which  they  have  acquired,  and  they  learn 
ineffectually  to  attempt  a  conquest  over  themselves  ;  or 
else,  which  is  most  commonly  the  catastrophe,  they 
learn  to  hear  the  exhortations  and  rebukes  of  all  around 
them,  without  being  stimulated  to  any  degree  of  exer- 
tion.* The  same  voices  which  lose  their  power  on 
these  trifling  occasions,  lose,  at  the  same  time,  much 
of  their  general  influence.  More  power  is  wasted  upon 
trifling  defects  in  the  manners  of  children,  than  can  be 
imagined  by  any  who  have  not  particularly  attended  to 
this  subject.  If  it  be  thought  indispensably  necessary 
to  speak  to  children  eternally  about  their  manners,  this 
irritating  and  disagreeable  office  should  devolve  upon 
somebody  whose  influence  over  the  children  we  are 
not  anxious  to  preserve  undiminished.  A  little  inge- 
nuity in  contriving  the  dress,  writing-desks,  reading- 
desks,  &c.  of  children,  who  are  any  way  defective  in 
their  shape,  might  spare  much  of  the  anxiety  which  is 
felt  by  their  parents,  and  much  of  the  bodily  and  mental 
pain  which  they  alternately  endure  themselves.  For 
these  patients,  would  it  not  be  rather  more  safe  to  con- 
sult the  philosophic  physicianf  than  the  dancing-mas- 
ter, who  is  not  bound  to  understand  either  anatomy  or 
metaphysics  1 

Every  preventive  which  is  discovered  for  any  de- 
fect, either  in  manners,  temper,  or  understanding,  dimin- 
ishes the  necessity  for  punishment.  Punishments  are 
the  abrupt,  brutal  resource  of  ignorance,  frequently,^  to 

*  See  the  judicious  Locke's  observations  upon  the  subject  of  man 
ners,  section  67  of  his  valuable  Treatise  on  Education, 
t  See  vol.  ii.  of  Zoonomia. 
i  We  believe  this  is  Williams's  idea. 


192  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

cure  the  effects  of  former  negligence.  With  children 
who  have  been  reasonably  and  affectionately  educated, 
scarcely  any  punishments  are  requisite.  This  is  not  an 
assertion  hazarded  without  experience ;  the  happy  ex- 
perience of  several  years,  and  of  several  children  of 
different  ages  and  tempers,  justifies  this  assertion.  As 
for  corporeal  punishments,  they  may  be  necessary  where 
boys  are  to  be  drilled  in  a  given  time  into  scholars  ;  but 
the  language  of  blows  need  seldom  be  used  to  reasona- 
ble creatures.  The  idea  that  it  is  disgraceful  to  be  gov- 
erned by  force,  should  be  kept  alive  in  the  minds  of 
children ;  the  dread  of  shame  is  a  more  powerful  mo- 
tive than  the  fear  of  bodily  pain.  To  prove  the  truth 
of  this,  we  may  recollect  that  few  people  have  ever 
been  known  to  destroy  themselves,  in  order  to  escape 
from  bodily  pain;  but  numbers,  to  avoid  shame,  have 
put  an  end  to  their  existence.  It  has  been  a  question, 
whether  mankind  are  most  governed  by  hope  or  by  fear  ; 
by  rewards  or  by  punishments  ?  This  question,  like 
many  others  which  have  occasioned  tedious  debates, 
turns  chiefly  upon  words.  Hope  and  fear  are  some- 
times used  to  denote  mixed,  and  sometimes  unmixed 
passions.  Those  who  speak  of  them  as  unmixed  pas- 
sions, cannot  have  accurately  examined  their  own  feel- 
ings.* The  probability  of  good  produces  hope;  the 
probability  of  evil  excites  fear ;  and  as  this  probability 
appears  less  or  greater,  more  remote  or  nearer  to  us, 
the  mind  fluctuates  between  the  opposite  passions. 
When  the  probability  increases  on  either  side,  so  does 
the  corresponding  passion.  Since  these  passions  sel- 
dom exist  in  absolute  separation  from  one  another,  it 
appears  that  we  cannot  philosophically  speak  of  either 
as  an  independent  motive :  to  the  question,  therefore, 
"  Which  governs  mankind  the  most,  hope  or  fear  ?"  we 
cannot  give  an  implicit  answer. 

When  we  would  determine  upon  the  probability  of  any 
good  or  evil,  we  are  insensibly  influenced,  not  only  by 
the  view  of  the  circumstances  before  us,  but  also  by  our 
previous  habits  ;  we  judge  not  only  by  the  general  laws 
of  human  events,  but  also  by  our  own  individual  expe- 
rience. If  we  have  been  usually  successful,  we  are  in- 
clined to  hope ;  have  we  been  accustomed  to  misfor- 
tunes, we  are  hence  disposed  to  fear.  "Caesar  and  his 

*  Hume's  Dissertation  on  the  Passions. 


UteWAUBS     AND     PUNISHMENTS.  193 

fortune  are  on  board,"  exclaimed  the  confident  hero  to 
the  mariners.  Hope  excites  the  mind  to  exertion;  fear 
represses  all  activity.  As  a  preventive  from  vice, 
you  may  employ  fear ;  to  restrain  the  excesses  of  all 
the  furious  passions,  it  is  useful  and  necessary:  but 
would  you  rouse  the  energies  of  virtue,  you  must  inspire 
and  invigorate  the  soul  with  hope.  Courage,  generosity, 
industry,  perseverance,  all  the  magic  of  talents,  all  the 
powers  of  genius,  all  the  virtues  that  appear  spontane- 
ous in  great  minds,  spring  from  hope.  But  how  differ- 
ent is  the  hope  of  a  great  and  of  a  little  mind ;  not  only 
are  the  objects  of  this  hope  different,  but  the  passion 
itself  is  raised  and  supported  in  a  different  manner.  A. 
feeble  person,  if  he  presume  to  hope,  hopes  as  super- 
stitiously  as  he  fears ;  he  keeps  his  attention  sedulously 
fixed  upon  all  the  probabilities  in  his  favour ;  he  will  not 
listen  to  any  argument  in  opposition  to  his  wishes ;  he 
knows  he  is  unreasonable,  he  persists  in  continuing  so  ; 
he  does  not  connect  any  idea  of  exertion  with  hope  ; 
his  hope  usually  rests  upon  the  exertions  of  others,  or 
upon  some  fortuitous  circumstances.  A  man  of  a  strong- 
mind  reasons  before  he  hopes  ;  he  takes  in,  at  one  quick, 
comprehensive  glance,  all  that  is  to  be  seen,  both  for  and 
against  him  ;  he  is,  from  experience,  disposed  to  depend 
much  upon  his  own  exertions,  if  they  can  turn  the  bal- 
ance in  his  favour;  he  hopes,  he  acts,  he  succeeds. 
Poets,  in  all  ages,  have  celebrated  the  charms  of  hope ; 
without  her  propitious  influence,  life,  they  tell  us,  would 
be  worse  than  death  ;  without  her  smiles,  nature  would 
smile  in  vain  ;  without  her  promises,  treacherous  though 
they  often  prove,  reality  would  have  nothing  to  give 
worthy  of  our  acceptance.  We  are  not  bound,  how- 
ever, to  understand  literally,  the  rhetoric  of  poets.  Hope 
is  to  them  a  beautiful  and  useful  allegorical  personage  ; 
sometimes  leaning  upon  an  anchor ;  sometimes  "  waving 
her  golden  hair ;"  always  young,  smiling,  enchanting, 
furnished  with  a  rich  assortment  of  epithets  suited  to 
the  ode,  the  sonnet,  the  madrigal,  with  a  traditionary 
number  of  images  and  allusions  ;  what  more  can  a  poet 
desire  ?  Men,  except  when  they  are  poets,  do  not  value 
hope  as  the  first  of  terrestrial  beings.  The  action  and 
energies  which  hope  produces,  are  to  many  more  agree- 
able than  the  passion  itself;  that  feverish  state  of  sus- 
pense, which  prevents  settled  thought  or  vigorous  exer- 
tion, far  from  being  agreeable,  is  highly  painful  to  a  well- 
17 


194  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

regulated  mind;  the  continual  repetition  of  the  same 
ideas  and  the  same  calculations,  fatigues  the  mind, 
which,  in  reasoning,  has  been  accustomed  to  arrive  at 
some  certain  conclusion,  or  to  advance,  at  least,  a  step 
at  every  effort.  The  exercise  of  the  mind  in  changing 
the  views  of  its  object,  which  is  supposed  to  be  a  great 
part  of  the  pleasure  of  hope,  is  soon  over  to  an  active 
imagination,  which  quickly  runs  through  all  the  possible 
changes ;  or  is  this  exercise,  even  while  it  lasts,  so  de- 
lightful to  a  man  who  has  a  variety  of  intellectual  occu- 
pations, as  it  frequently  appears  to  him  who  knows 
scarcely  any  other  species  of  mental  activity1?  The 
vacillating  state  of  mind  peculiar  to  hope  and  fear,  is 
by  no  means  favourable  to  industry;  half  our  time  is 
generally  consumed  in  speculating  upon  the  reward, 
instead  of  earning  it,  whenever  the  value  of  that  reward 
is  not  precisely  ascertainable.  In  all  occupations  where 
judgment  or  accurate  observation  is  essential,  if  the  re 
ward  of  our  labour  is  brought  suddenly  to  excite  our 
hope,  there  is  an  immediate  interruption  of  all  effectual 
labour;  the  thoughts  take  a  new  direction;  the  mind 
becomes  tremulous,  and  nothing  decisive  can  be  done, 
till  the  emotions  of  hope  and  fear  either  subside  or  are 
vanquished. 

M.  1'Abbe  Chappe,  who  was  sent  by  the  king  of 
France,  at  the  desire  of  the  French  Academy,  to  Siberia, 
to  observe  the  transit  of  Venus,  gives  us  a  striking  pic- 
ture of  the  state  of  his  own  mind  when  the  moment  of 
this  famous  observation  approached.  In  the  descrip- 
tion of  his  own  feelings,  this  traveller  may  be  admitted 
as  good  authority.  A  few  hours  before  the  observation, 
a  black  cloud  appeared  in  the.  sky  ;  the  idea  of  returning 
to  Paris,  after  such  a  long  and  perilous  journey,  without 
having  seen  the  transit  of  Venus  ;  the  idea  of  the  dis- 
appointment to  his  king,  to  his  country,  to  all  the  phi- 
losophers in  Europe,  threw  him  into  a  state  of  agita- 
tion "  which  must  have  been  felt  to  be  conceived." 
At  length  the  black  cloud  vanished  ;  his  hopes  affected 
him  almost  as  much  as  his  fears  had  done  ;  he  fixed  his 
telescope,  saw  the  planet ;  his  eye  wandered  over  the 
immense  space  a  thousand  times  in  a  minute  ;  his  sec- 
retary stood  on  one  side  with  his  pen  in  his  hand ;  his 
assistant,  with  his  eye  fixed  upon  the  watch,  was  sta- 
tioned on  the  other  side.  The  moment  of  the  total  im- 
mersion arrived ;  the  agitated  philosopher  was  seized 


RtWAftDS     AND    PUNISHMENTS.  195 

with  a  universal  shivering-,  and  could  scarcely  command 
his  thoughts  sufficiently  to  secure  the  observation. 

The  uncertainty  of  reward,  and  the  consequent  agita- 
tions of  hope  and  fear,  operate  as  unfavourably  upon 
the  moral  as  upon  the  intellectual  character.  The 
favour  of  princes  is  an  uncertain  reward.  Courtiers  are 
usually  despicable  and  wretched  beings :  they  live  upon 
hope ;  but  their  hope  is  not  connected  with  exertion. 
Those  who  court  popularity  are  not- less  despicable  or 
less  wretched ;  their  reward  is  uncertain  :  what  is  more 
uncertain  than  the  affection  of  the  multitude  ?  The  Pro- 
teus character  of  Wharton,  so  admirably  drawn  by 
Pope,  is  a  striking  picture  of  a  man  who  has  laboured 
through  life  with  the  vague  hope  of  obtaining  universal 
applause. 

Let  us  suppose  a  child  to  be  educated  by  a  variety  of 
persons,  all  differing  in  their  tastes  and  tempers,  and  in 
their  notions  of  right  and  wrong  ;  all  having  the  power 
to  reward  and  punish  their  common  pupil.  What  must 
this  pupil  become  1  A  mixture  of  incongruous  charac- 
ters ;  superstitious,  enthusiastic,  indolent,  and  perhaps 
profligate  :  superstitious,  because  his  own  contradictory 
experience  would  expose  him  to  fear  without  reason ; 
enthusiastic,  because  he  would,  from  the  same  cause, 
form  absurd  expectations  ;  indolent,  because  the  will  of 
others  has  been  the  measure  of  his  happiness,  and  his 
own  exertions  have  never  procured  him  any  certain  re- 
ward ;  profligate,  because,  probably,  from  the  confused 
variety  of  his  moral  lessons,  he  has  at  last  concluded 
that  right  and  wrong  are  but  unmeaning  words.  Let  us 
change  the  destiny  of  this  child,  by  changing  his  educa- 
tion. Place  him  under  the  sole  care  of  a  person  of  an 
enlarged  capacity  and  a  steady  mind  ;  who  has  formed 
just  notions  of  right  and  wrong,  and  who,  in  the  distri- 
bution of  reward  and  punishment,  of  praise  and  blame, 
will  be  prompt,  exact,  invariable.  His  pupil  will  neither 
be  credulous,  rash,  nor  profligate  ;  and  he  certainly  will 
not  be  indolent ;  his  habitual  and  his  rational  belief  will 
in  all  circumstances  agree  with  each  other ;  his  hope 
will  be  the  prelude  to  exertion,  and  his  fear  will  restrain 
him  only  in  situations  where  action  is  dangerous. 

Even  among  children,  we  must  frequently  have  ob- 
served a  prodigious  difference  in  the  quantity  of  hope 
and  fear  which  is  felt  by  those  who  have  been  well  or 
ill-educated,  An  ill-educated  child  is  in  daily,  hourly, 
I  2 


196  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

alternate  agonies  of  hope  and  fear ;  the  present  never 
occupies  or  interests  him,  but  his  soul  is  intent  upon 
some  future  gratification,  which  never  pays  him  by  its 
full  possession.  As  soon  as  he  awakes  in  the  morn- 
ing, he  recollects  some  promised  blessing;  and,  till  the 
happy  moment  arrives,  he  is  wretched  in  impatience  : 
at  breakfast  he  is  to  be  blessed  with  some  toy,  that  he  is 
to  have  the  moment  breakfast  is  finished ;  and  when  he 
finds  the  toy  does  not  delight  him,  he  is  to  be  blessed 
with  a  sweet  pudding  at  dinner,  or  with  sitting  up  half 
an  hour  later  at  night  than  his  usual  bedtime.  Endeav- 
our to  find  some  occupation  that  shall  amuse  him  ;  you 
will  not  easily  succeed,  for  he  will  still  anticipate  what 
you  are  going  to  say  or  do.  "  What  will  come  next  ?" 
"  What  shall  we  do  after  this  ?"  are,  as  Mr.  Williams, 
in  his  able  lectures  upon  education,  observes,  the  ques- 
tions incessantly  asked  by  spoiled  children.  This  spe- 
cies of  idle,  restless  curiosity,  does  not  lead  to  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge  ;  it  prevents  the  possibility  of 
instruction  ;  it  is  not  the  animation  of  a  healthy  mind; 
it  is  the  debility  of  an  over-stimulated  temper.  There 
is  a  very  sensible  letter  in  Mrs.  Macauley's  book  upon 
education,  on  the  impropriety  of  filling  the  imaginations 
of  young  people  with  prospects  of  future  enjoyment : 
the  foolish  system  of  promising  great  rewards  and  fine 
presents,  she  clearly  shows,  creates  habitual  disorders 
in  the  minds  of  children. 

The  happiness  of  life  depends  more  upon  a  succes- 
sion of  small  enjoyments  than  upon  great  pleasures ; 
and  those  who  become  incapable  of  tasting  the  moder- 
ately agreeable  sensations,  cannot  fill  up  the  intervals 
of  their  existence  between  their  great  delights.  The 
happiness  of  children  peculiarly  depends  upon  their 
enjoyment  of  little  pleasures  :  of  these  they  have  a  con- 
tinual variety ;  they  have  perpetual  occupation  for  their 
senses,  in  observing  all  the  objects  around  them,  and  all 
their  faculties  may  be  exercised  upon  suitable  subjects. 
The  pleasure  of  this  exercise  is  in  itself  sufficient:  we 
need  not  say  to  a  child,  "  Look  at  the  wings  of  this 
beautiful  butterfly,  and  I  will  give  you  a  piece  of  plum- 
cake  ;  observe  how  the  butterfly  curls  his  proboscis, 
how  he  dives  into  the  honeyed  flowers,  and  I  will  take 
you  in  a  coach  to  pay  a  visit  with  me,  my  dear.  *  Re- 
member .the  pretty  story  you  read  this  morning,  and  you 
shall  have  a  new  coat."  Without  the  new  coat,  or  the 


REWARDS    AND     PUNISHMENTS.  197 

visit,  or  the  plumcake,  the  child  would  have  had  suffi- 
cient amusement  in  the  story,  and  the  sight  of  the  but- 
terfly's proboscis :  the  rewards,  besides,  have  no  natu- 
ral connexion  with  the  things  themselves  ;  and  they 
create,  where  they  are  most  liked,  a  taste  for  factitious 
pleasures.  Would  you  encourage  benevolence,  gener- 
osity, or  prudence,  let  each  have  its  appropriate  reward 
of  affection,  esteem,  and  confidence  ;*  but  do  not,  by  ill- 
judged  bounties,  attempt  to  force  these  virtues  into  pre- 
mature display.  The  rewards  which  are  given  to  be- 
nevolence and  generosity  in  children,  frequently  encour- 
age selfishness,  and  sometimes  teach  them  cunning. 
Lord  Kames  tells  us  a  story,  which  is  precisely  a  case 
in  point.  Two  boys,  the  sons  of  the  Earl  of  Elgin,  were 
permitted  by  their  father  to  associate  with  the  poor  boys 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  their  father's  house.  One  day, 
the  earl's  sons  being  called  to  dinner,  a  lad  who  was 
playing  with  them  said  that  he  would  wait  until  they 
returned — "  There  is  no  dinner  for  me  at  home," 
said  the  poor  boy.  "  Come  with  us,  then,"  said  the 
earl's  sons.  The  boy  refused,  and  when  they  asked 
him  if  he  had  any  money  to  buy  a  dinner,  he  answered, 
"  No." — "  Papa,"  said  the  eldest  of  the  young  gentlemen 
when  he  got  home,  "  what  was  the  price  of  the  silver 
buckles  you  gave  me  V — "  Five  shillings." — "  Let  me 
have  the  money,  and  I'll  give  you  the  buckles."  It  was 
done  accordingly,  says  Lord  Kames.  The  earl,  inqui- 
ring privately,  found  that  the  money  was  given  to  the 
lad  who  had  no  dinner.  The  buckles  were  returned,  and 
the  boy  was  highly  commended  for  being  kind  to  his 
companion.  The  commendations  were  just,  but  the 
buckles  should  not  have  been  returned  :  the  boy  should 
have  been  suffered  steadily  to  abide  by  his  own  bargain ; 
he  should  have  been  allowed  to  feel  the  pleasure,  and 
pay  the  exact  price  of  his  own  generosity. 

If  we  attempt  to  teach  children  that  they  can  be  gen- 
erous without  giving  up  some  of  their  own  pleasures 
for  the  sake  of  other  people,  we  attempt  to  teach  them 
what  is  false.  If  we  once  make  them  amends  for  any 
sacrifice  they  have  made,  we  lead  them  to  expect  the 
same  remuneration  upon  a  future  occasion  ;  and  then, 
in  fact,  they  act  with  a  direct  view  to  their  own  interest, 

*  See  Locke,  and  an  excellent  little  essay  of  Madame  de  Lam- 
bert's. 


198  PRACTICAL    FDIJCATION. 

and  govern  themselves  by  the  calculations  of  prudence, 
instead  of  following  the  dictates  of  benevolence.  It  is 
true,  that  if  we  speak  with  accuracy,  we  must  admit 
that  the  most  benevolent  and  generous  persons  act  from 
the  hope  of  receiving  pleasure,  and  their  enjoyment  is 
more  exquisite  than  that  of  the  most  refined  selfishness; 
in  the  language  of  M.  de  Rochefoucault,  we  should 
therefore  be  forced  to  acknowledge,  that  the  most  be- 
nevolent is  always  the  most  selfish  person.  This  seem- 
ing paradox  is  answered  by  observing,  that  the  epithet 
selfish  is  given  to  those  who  prefer  pleasures  in  which 
other  people  have  no  share  ;  we  change  the  meaning  of 
words  when  we  talk  of  its  being  selfish  to  like  the  pleas- 
ures of  sympathy  or  benevolence,  because  these  pleas- 
ures cannot  be  confined  solely  to  the  idea  of  self.  When 
we  say  that  a  person  pursues  his  own  interest  more  by 
being  generous  than  by  being  covetous,  we  take  into 
the  account  the  general  sum  of  his  agreeable  feelings  ; 
we  do  not  balance  prudentially  his  loss  or  gain  upon 
particular  occasions.  The  generous  man  may  himself 
be  convinced,  that  the  sum  of  his  happiness  is  more  in- 
creased by  the  feelings  of  benevolence,  than  it  could  be 
by  the  gratification  of  avarice  ;  but,  though  his  under- 
standing may  perceive  the  demonstration  of  this  moral 
theorem,  though  it  is  the  remote  principle  of  his  whole 
conduct,  it  does  not  occur  to  his  memory  in  the  form  of 
a  prudential  aphorism,  whenever  he  is  going  to  do  a 
generous  action.  It  is  essential  to  our  ideas  of  gener- 
osity, that  no  such  reasoning  should,  at  that  moment, 
pass  in  his  mind  ;  we  know  that  the  feelings  of  gener- 
osity are  associated  with  a  number  of  enthusiastic 
ideas  ;  we  can  sympathize  with  the  virtuous  insanity  of 
the  man  who  forgets  himself  while  he  thinks  of  others ; 
we  do  not  so  readily  sympathize  with  the  cold  strength 
of  mind  of  the  person  who,  deliberately  preferring  the 
greatest  possible  share  of  happiness,  is  benevolent  by  rule 
and  measure. 

Whether  we  are  just  or  not  in  refusing  our  sympathy 
to  the  man  of  reason,  and  in  giving  our  spontaneous  ap- 
probation to  the  man  of  enthusiasm,  we  shall  not  here 
examine.  But  the  reasonable  man,  who  has  been  con- 
vinced of  this  propensity  in  human  nature,  will  take  it 
into  his  calculations  ;  he  will  perceive  that  he  loses,  in 
losing  the  pleasure  of  sympathy,  part  of  the  sum  total 
of  his  possible  happiness  ;  he  will  consequently  wish 


REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMENTS. 

that  he  could  add  this  item  of  pleasure  to  the  credit  side 
of  his  account.  This,  however,  he  cannot  accomplish; 
because,  though  he  can  by  reason  correct  his  calcula- 
tions, it  is  not  in  the  power,  even  of  the  most  potent 
reason,  suddenly  to  break  habitual  associations  ;  much 
less  is  it  in  the  power  of  cool  reason  to  conjure  up  warm 
enthusiasm.  Yet,  in  this  case,  enthusiasm  is  the  thing 
required. 

What  the  man  of  reason  cannot  do  for  himself  after 
his  associations  are  strongly  formed,  might  have  been 
easily  accomplished  in  his  early  education.  He  might 
have  been  taught  the  same  general  principles,  but  with 
different  habits.  By  early  associating  the  pleasures  of 
sympathy,  and  praise,  and  affection,  with  all  generous 
and  benevolent  actions,  his  parents  might  have  joined 
these  ideas  so  forcibly  in  his  mind,  that  the  one  set  of 
ideas  should  never  recur  without  the  other.  Whenever 
the  words  benevolence  or  generosity  were  pronounced, 
the  feelings  of  habitual  pleasure  would  recur ;  and  he 
would,  independently  of  reason,  desire  from  association 
to  be  generous.  When  enthusiasm  is  fairly  justified  by 
reason,  we  have  nothing  to  fear  from  her  vehemence. 

In  rewarding  children  for  the  prudential  virtues,  such 
as  order,  cleanliness,  economy,  temperance,  &c.,  we 
should  endeavour  to  make  the  rewards  the  immediate 
consequence  of  the  virtues  themselves  ;  and  at  the  same 
time,  approbation  should  be  shown  in  speaking  of  these 
useful  qualities.  A  gradation  must,  however,  always 
be  observed  in  our  praises  of  different  virtues  ;  those 
that  are  the  most  useful  to  society,  as  truth,  justice,  and 
humanity,  must  stand  the  highest  in  the  scale  ;  those 
that  are  most  agreeable,  claim  the  next  place.  Those 
good  qualities  which  must  wait  a  considerable  time  for 
their  reward,  such  as  perseverance,  prudence,  &c.,  we 
must  not  expect  early  from  young  people.  Till  they 
have  had  experience,  how  can  they  form  any  idea  about 
the  future  1  Till  they  have  been  punctually  rewarded 
for  their  industry,  or  for  their  prudence,  they  do  not  feel 
the  value  of  prudence  and  perseverance.  Time  is  ne- 
cessary to  all  these  lessons,  and  those  who  leave  time 
out  in  their  calculations,  will  always  be  disappointed  in 
whatever  plan  of  education  they  may  pursue. 

Many  to  whom  the  subject  is  familiar,  will  be  fatigued, 
probably,  by  the  detailed  manner  in  which  it  has  been 
thought  necessary  to  explain  the  principles  by  which 


200  PRACTICAL     EDUCATION. 

we  shoukl  guide  ourselves  in  the  distribution  of  rewards 
and  punishments  to  children.  Those  who  quickly  seize 
and  apply  general  ideas,  cannot  endure,  with  patience,  the 
tedious  minuteness  of  didactic  illustration.  Those  who 
are  actualty  engaged  in  practical  education,  will  not,  on  the 
contrary,  be  satisfied  with  general  precepts  ;  and,  how- 
ever plausible  any  theory  may  appear^  they  are  well 
aware  that  its  utility  must  depend  upon  a  variety  of  small 
circumstances,  to  which  writers  of  theories  often  neg- 
lect to  advert.  At  the  hazard  of  being  thought  te- 
dious, those  must  be  minute  in  explanation  who  de- 
sire to  be  generally  useful.  An  old  French  writer,* 
more  remarkable  for  originality  of  thought  than  for  the 
graces  of  style,  was  once  reproached  by  a  friend  with 
the  frequent  repetitions  which  were  to  be  found  in  his 
works.  "Name  them  to  me,"  said  the  author.  The 
critic,  with  obliging  precision,  mentioned  all  the  ideas 
which  had  most  frequently  recurred  in  the  book.  "  I 
am  satisfied,"  replied  the  honest  author  ;  "  you  remem- 
ber my  ideas ;  I  repeated  them  so  often  to  prevent  you 
from  forgetting  them.  Without  my  repetitions,  we 
should  never  have  succeeded." 


CHAPTER  X. 

ON    SYMPATHY    AND    SENSIBILITY. 

THE  artless  expressions  of  sympathy  and  sensibility 
in  children,  are  peculiarly  pleasing ;  people  who,  in  their 
commerce  with  the  world,  have  been  disgusted  and  de- 
ceived by  falsehood  and  affectation,  listen  with  delight 
to  the  genuine  language  of  nature.  Those  who  have 
any  interest  in  the  education  of  children,  have  yet  a 
higher  sense  of  pleasure  in  observing  symptoms  of  their 
sensibility  ;  they  anticipate  the  future  virtues  which  early 
sensibility  seems  certainly  to  promise  ;  the  future  hap- 
piness which  these  virtues  will  diffuse.  Nor  are  they 
unsupported  by  philosophy  in  these  sanguine  hopes. 
No  theory  was  ever  developed  with  more  ingenious  ele- 
gance, than  that  which  deduces  all  our  moral  sentiments 

*  The  Abb6  St.  Pierre.    See  his  Eloge,.  by  D'Alemben. 


SYMPATHY    AND    SENSIBILITY.  201 

from  sympathy.  The  direct  influence  of  sympathy  upon 
all  social  beings  is  sufficiently  obvious,  and  we  imme- 
diately perceive  its  necessary  connexion  with  compas- 
sion, friendship,  and  benevolence  ;  but  the  subject  be- 
comes more  intricate  when  we  are  to  analyze  our  sense 
of  propriety  and  justice  ;  of  merit  and  demerit ;  of  grati- 
tude and  resentment ;  self-complacency  or  remorse ; 
ambition  and  shame.* 

We  allow,  without  hesitation,  that  a  being  destitute 
of  sympathy  could  never  have  any  of  these  feelings,  and 
must,  consequently,  be  incapable  of  all  intercourse  with 
society;  yet  we  must  at  the  same  time  perceive,  that  a 
being  endowed  with  the  most  exquisite  sympathy,  must, 
without  the  assistance  and  education  of  reason,  be,  if 
not  equally  incapable  of  social  intercourse,  far  more 
dangerous  to  the  happiness  of  society.  A  person,  gov- 
erned by  sympathy  alone,  must  be  influenced  by  the  bad 
as  well  as  by  the  good  passions  of  others  ;  he  must  feel 
resentment  with  the  angry  man ;  hatred  with  the  ma- 
levolent ;  jealousy  with  the  jealous;  and  avarice  with 
the  miser :  the  more  lively  his  sympathy  with  these 
painful  feelings,  the  greater  must  be  his  misery;  the 
more  forcibly  he  is  impelled  to  action  by  this  sympa- 
thetic influence,  the  greater,  probably,  must  be  his  im- 
prudence and  his  guilt.  Let  us  even  suppose  a  being 
capable  of  sympathy  only  with  the  best  feelings  of  his 
fellow-creatures, — still,  without  the  direction  of  reason, 
he  would  be  a  nuisance  in  the  world ;  his  pity  would 
stop  the  hand,  and  overturn  the  balance  of  justice ;  his 
love  would  be  as  dangerous  as  his  pity ;  his  gratitude 
would  exalt  his  benefactor  at  the  expense  of  the  whole 
human  race  ;  his  sympathy  with  the  rich,  the  prosper- 
ous, the  great,  and  the  fortunate,  would  be  so  sudden 
and  so  violent  as  to  leave  him  no  time  for  reflection 
upon  the  consequences  of  tyranny,  or  the  miseries  oc- 
casioned by  monopoly.  No  time  for  reflection,  did  we 
say  ?  We  forgot  that  we  were  speaking  of  a  being  des- 
titute of  the  reasoning  faculty  !  Such  a  being,  no  mat- 
ter what  his  virtuous  sympathies  might  be,  must  act 
either  like  a  madman  or  a  fool.  On  sympathy  we  can- 
not depend,  either  for  the  correctness  of  a  man's  moral 
sentiments,  or  for  the  steadiness  of  his  moral  conduct. 
It  is  very  common  to  talk  of  the  excellence  of  a  person's 

*  Adam  Smith. 
13 


202  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION, 

heart,  of  the  natural  goodness  of  his  disposition  ;  when 
these  expressions  distinctly  mean  any  thing,  they  must 
refer  to  natural  sympathy,  or  a  superior  degree  of  sen- 
sibility. Experience,  however,  does  not  teach  us  that 
sensibility  and  virtue  have  any  certain  connexion  with 
each  other.  No  one  can  read  the  works  of  Sterne,  or 
of  Rousseau,  without  believing  these  men  to  have  been 
endowed  with  extraordinary  sensibility ;  yet,  who  would 
propose  their  conduct  in  life  as  a  model  for  imitation  ? 
That  quickness  of  sympathy  with  present  objects  of  dis- 
tress which  constitutes  compassion,  is  usually  thought 
a  virtue, — but  it  is  a  virtue  frequently  found  in  persons 
of  an  abandoned  character.  Mandeville,  in  his  essay 
upon  charity-schools,  puts  this  in  a  strong  light. 

"  Should  any  one  of  us,"  says  he,  "  be  locked  up  in  a 
ground  room,  where,  in  a  yard  adjoining  to  it,  there  was 
a  thriving,  good-humoured  child  at  play,  of  two  or  three 
years  old,  so  near  us  that  through  the  grates  of  the 
window  we  could  almost  touch  it  with  our  hands  ;  and 
if,  while  we  took  delight  in  the  harmless  diversion  and 
imperfect  prattle  of  the  innocent  babe,  a  nasty,  over- 
grown sow  should  come  in  upon  the  child,  set  it  a 
screaming,  and  frighten  it  out  of  its  wits, — it  is  natural 
to  think  that  this  would  make  us  uneasy,  and  that  with 
crying  out,  and  making  all  the  menacing  noise  we  could, 
we  should  endeavour  to  drive  the  sow  away.  But  if 
this  should  happen  to  be  a  half-starved  creature,  that, 
mad  with  hunger,  went  roaming  about  in  quest  of  food, 
and  we  should  behold  the  ravenous  brute,  in  spite  of  our 
cries,  and  all  the  threatening  gestures  we  could  think 
of,  actually  lay  hold  of  the  helpless  infant,  destroy,  and 
devour  it ; — to  see  her  widely  open  her  destructive  jaws, 
and  the  poor  lamb  beat  down  with  greedy  haste  ;  to  look 
on  the  defenceless  posture  of  tender  limbs  first  trampled 
upon,  then  torn  asunder;  to  see  the  filthy  snout,  digging 
in  the  yet  living  entrails,  suck  up  the  smoking  blood, 
and  now  and  then  to  hear  the  crackling  of  the  bones, 
and  the  cruel  animal  grunt  with  savage  pleasure  over 
the  horrid  banquet ;  to  hear  and  see  all  this,  what  tor- 
ture would  it  give  the  soul,  beyond  expression  !  *  *  * 
Not  only  a  man  of  humanity,  of  good  morals,  and  com- 
miseration, but  likewise  a  highwayman,  a  house- 
breaker, or  a  murderer,  could  feel  anxieties  on  such  an 
occasion." 

Among  those  monsters  who  are  pointed  out  by  the 


SYMPATHY    AND    SKNSIBILITY.  203 

historian  to  the  just  detestation  of  all  mankind,  we  meet 
with  instances  of  casual  sympathy  and  sensibility ;  even 
their  vices  frequently  prove  to  us,  that  they  never  be 
came  utterly  indifferent  to  the  opinion  and  feelings  of 
their  fellow-creatures.  The  dissimulation,  jealousy, 
suspicion,  and  cruelty  of  Tiberius,  originated,  perhaps, 
more  in  his  anxiety  about  the  opinions  which  were 
formed  of  his  character,  than  in  his  fears  of  any  con- 
spiracies against  his  life.  The  ''judge  within"  the 
habit  of  viewing  his  own  conduct  in  the  light  in  which  it 
was  beheld  by  the  impartial  spectator,  prompted  him  to  new 
crimes;  and  thus  his  unextinguished  sympathy,  and  his 
exasperated  sensibility,  drove  him  to  excesses  from 
which  a  more  torpid  temperament  might  have  preserved 
him.*  When,  upon  his  presenting  the  sons  of  German- 
icus  to  the  senate,  Tiberius  beheld  the  tenderness  with 
which  these  young  men  were  received,  he  was  moved 
to  such  an  agony  of  jealousy  as  instantly  to  beseech  the 
senate  that  he  might  resign  the  empire.  We  cannot 
attribute,  either  to  policy  or  fear,  this  strong  emotion, 
because  we  know  that  the  senate  was  at  this  time  abso- 
lutely at  the  disposal  of  Tiberius,  and  the  lives  of  the 
sons  of  Gerrnanicus  depended  upon  his  pleasure. 

The  desire  to  excel,  according  to  "  Smith's  Theory 
of  Moral  Sentiments,"  is  to  be  resolved  principally  into 
our  love  of  the  sympathy  of  our  fellow-creatures.  We 
wish  for  their  sympathy,  either  in  our  success  or  in  the 
pleasure  we  feel  in  superiority.  The  desire  for  this 
refined  modification  of  sympathy  may  be  the  motive  of 
good  and  great  actions ;  but  it  cannot  be  trusted  as  a 
moral  principle.  Nero's  love  of  sympathy  made  him 
anxious  to  be  applauded  on  the  stage  as  a  fiddler  and  a 
buffoon.  Tiberius  banished  one  of  his  philosophic  court- 
iers, and  persecuted  him  till  the  unfortunate  man  laid 
violent  hands  upon  himself,  merely  because  he  had  dis- 
covered that  the  emperor  read  books  in  the  morning  to 
prepare  himself  with  questions  for  his  literary  society 
at  night.  Dionysius,  the  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  sued  in 
the  most  abject  manner  for  an  Olympic  crown,  and  sent 
a  critic  to  the  galleys  for  finding  fault  with  his  verses. 
Had  not  these  men  a  sufficient  degree  of  sensibility  to 
praise,  and  more  than  a  sufficient  desire  for  the  sympa- 
thy of  their  fellow-creatures  ? 

*  See  Smith. 


204  PRACTICAL    KDUC  \TION, 

It  is  not  from  any  perverse  love  of  sophistry,  that  the 
word  sensibility  has  been  used  in  these  instances  instead 
of  irritability,  which  seems  better  to  characterize  the 
temper  of  a  Dionysius  or  a  Tiberius;  but,  in  fact,  irri- 
tability, in  common  language,  merely  denotes  an  exces- 
sive or  ill-governed  degree  of  sensibility.  The  point 
of  excess  must  be  marked :  sympathy  must  be  regulated 
by  education ;  and  consequently  the  methods  of  directing 
sensibility  to  useful  and  amiable  purposes,  must  be 
anxiously  studied  by  all  who  wish  for  the  happiness  or 
virtue  of  their  pupils. 

Long  before  children  can  understand  reasoning,  they 
can  feel  sympathy  ;  during  this  early  period  of  their 
education,  example  and  habit,  slight  external  circum- 
stances, and  the  propensity  to  imitation,  govern  their 
thoughts  and  actions.  Imitation  is  the  involuntary  effect 
of  sympathy  in  children ;  hence,  those  who  have  the  most 
sympathy  are  most  liable  to  be  improved  or  injured  by 
early  examples.  Examples  of  the  malevolent  passions 
should  therefore  be  most  carefully  excluded  from  the 
sight  of  those  who  have  yet  no  choice  in  their  sympathy  ; 
expressions  of  kindness  and  affection  in  the  countenance, 
the  voice,  the  actions,  of  all  who  approach,  and  of  all 
who  have  the  care  of  infants,  are  not  only  immediately 
and  evidently  agreeable  to  the  children,  but  ought  also 
to  be  used  as  the  best  possible  means  of  exciting  benevo- 
lent sympathies  in  their  minds.  Children  who  habitually 
meet  with  kindness,  habitually  feel  complacency ;  that 
species  of  instinctive,  or  rather  of  associated  affection, 
which  always  rises  in  the  mind  from  the  recollection  of 
past  pleasures,  is  immediately  excited  in  such  children 
by  the  sight  of  their  parents.  By  an  easy  transition  of 
ideas,  they  expect  the  same  benevolence,  even  from 
strangers,  which  they  have  experienced  from  their 
friends,  and  their  sympathy  naturally  prepares  them  to 
wish  for  society;  this  wish  is  often  improperly  indulged. 

At  the  age  when  children  begin  to  unfold  their  ideas, 
and  to  express  their  thoughts  in  words,  they  are  such 
interesting  and  entertaining  companions,  that  they  at- 
tract a  large  portion  of  our  daily  attention :  we  listen 
eagerly  to  their  simple  observations ;  we  enter  into  their 
young  astonishment  at  every  new  object ;  we  are  de- 
lighted to  watch  all  their  emotions ;  we  help  them  with 
words  to  express  their  ideas ;  we  anxiously  endeavour 
to  understand  their  imperfect  reasonings,  and  are  pleased 


SYMPATHY    AND    SENSIBILITY.  205 

to  find,  or  put  them  in  the  right.  This  season  of  uni- 
versal smiles  and  courtesy  is  delightful  to  children 
while  it  lasts,  but  it  soon  passes  away ;  they  soon  speak 
without  exciting  any  astonishment ;  and,  instead  of  meet- 
ing with  admiration  for  every  attempt  to  express  an  idea, 
they  are  soon  repulsed  for  troublesome  volubility ;  even 
when  they  talk  sense,  they  are  suffered  to  talk  unheard, 
or  else  they  are  checked  ifor  unbecoming  presumption. 
Children  feel  this  change  in  public  opinion  and  manners 
most  severely ;  they  are  not  sensible  of  any  change  in 
themselves,  except,  perhaps,  they  are  conscious  of  hav- 
ing improved  both  in  sense  and  language.  This  un- 
merited loss  of  their  late  gratuitous  allowance  of  sym- 
pathy usually  operates  unfavourably  upon  the  temper 
of  the  sufferers ;  they  become  shy,  and  silent,  and  re- 
served, if  not  sullen ;  they  withdraw  from  our  capricious 
society,  and  they  endeavour  to  console  themselves  with 
other  pleasures.  It  is  difficult  to  them  to  feel  contented 
with  their  own  little  occupations  and  amusements,  for 
want  of  the  spectators  and  the  audience  which  used  to 
be  at  their  command.  Children  of  a  timid  temper,  or 
of  an  indolent  disposition,  are  quite  dispirited  and  bereft 
of  all  energy  in  these  circumstances;  others,  with 
greater  vivacity,  and  more  voluntary  exertion,  en- 
deavour to  supply  the  loss  of  universal  sympathy  by 
the  invention  of  independent  occupations ;  but  they  feel 
anger  and  indignation  when  they  are  not  rewarded  with 
any  smiles  or  any  praise  for  their  "  virtuous  toil."  They 
naturally  seek  for  new  companions,  either  among  chil- 
dren of  their  own  age,  or  among  complaisant  servants. 
Immediately  all  the  business  of  education  is  at  a  stand ; 
for  neither  these  servants  nor  these  playfellows  are 
capable  of  becoming  their  instructers;  nor  can  tutors 
hope  to  succeed,  who  have  transferred  their  power  over 
the  pleasures,  and  consequently  over  the  affections  of 
their  pupils.  Sympathy  now  becomes  the  declared 
enemy  of  all  the  constituted  authorities.  What  chance 
is  there  of  obedience  or  of  happiness  under  such  a  gov- 
ernment] 

Would  it  not  be  more  prudent  to  prevent  than  to 
complain  of  these  evils?  Sympathy  is  our  first,  best 
friend  in  education,  and,  by  judicious  management, 
might  long  continue  our  faithful  ally. 

Instead  of  lavishing  our  smiles  and  our  attention  upon 
young  children  for  a  short  period,  just  at  that  age  when 
18 


206  PRACTICAL     EDUCATION. 

they  are  amusing  playthings,  should  we  not  do  more 
wisely  if  we  reserved  some  portion  of  our  kindness  a 
few  years  longer1?  By  a  proper  economy,  our  sympathy 
may  last  for  many  years,  and  may  continually  contribute 
to  the  most  useful  purposes.  Instead  of  accustoming 
our  pupils  early  to  such  a  degree  of  our  attention  as  can- 
not be  supported  long  on  our  parts,  we  should  rather 
suffer  them  to  feel  a  little  ennui,  at  that  age  when  they 
can  have  but  few  independent  or  useful  occupations. 
We  should  employ  ourselves  in  our  usual  manner,  and 
converse*  without  allowing  children  to  interrupt  us  with 
frivolous  prattle ;  but  whenever  they  ask  sensible  ques- 
tions, make  just  observations,  or  show  a  disposition  to 
acquire  knowledge,  we  should  assist  and  encourage 
them  with  praise  and  affection ;  gradually,  as  they 
become  capable  of  taking  any  part  in  conversation,  they 
should  be  admitted  into  society  ;  and  they  will  learn  of 
themselves,  or  we  may  teach  them,  that  useful  and 
agreeable  qualities  are  those  by  which  they  must  secure 
the  pleasures  of  sympathy.  Esteem  being  associated 
with  sympathy,  will  increase  its  value ;  and  this  con- 
nexion should  be  made  as  soon,  and  kept  as  sacred  in 
the  mind  as  possible. 

With  respect  to  the  sympathy  which  children  feel  for 
each  other,  it  must  be  carefully  managed,  or  it  will  coun- 
teract, instead  of  assisting  us,  in  education.  It  is  natural 
that  those  who  are  placed  nearly  in  the  same  circum- 
stances should  feel  alike,  and  sympathize  with  one 
another;  but  children  feel  only  for  the  present;  they 
have  few  ideas  of  the  future  ;  and  consequently  all  that 
they  can  desire,  either  for  themselves  or  for  their  com- 
panions, is  what  will  immediately  please.  Education 
looks  to  the  future ;  and  frequently  we  must  ensure  fu- 
ture advantage,  even  at  the  expense  of  present  pain  or 
restraint.  The  companion  and  the  tutor  then,  supposing 
each  to  be  equally  good  and  equally  kind,  must  com- 
mand, in  a  very  different  degree,  the  sympathy  of  the 
child.  It  may,  notwithstanding,  be  questioned,  whether 
those  who  are  constant  companions  in  their  idle  hours, 
when  they  are  very  young,  are  likely  to  be  either  as  fond 
of  one  another  when  they  grow  up,  or  even  as  happy 
while  they  are  children,  as  those  are  who  spend  less 
time  together.  Whenever  the  humours,  interests,  and 
passions  of  others  cross  our  own,  there  is  an  end  of 
sympathy ;  and  this  happens  almost  every  hour  in  the 


SYMPATHY    AND    SENSIBILITY.  207 

day  with  children :  it  is  generally  supposed,  that  they 
learn  to  live  in  friendship  with  each  other,  and  to  bear 
with  one  another's  little  faults  habitually;  that  they 
even  reciprocally  cure  these  faults,  and  learn,  by  ex- 
perience, those  principles  of  honour  and  justice  on 
which  society  depends.  We  may  be  deceived  in  this 
reasoning  by  a  false  analogy. 

We  call  the  society  of  children,  society  in  miniature ; 
the  proportions  of  the  miniature  are  so  much  altered, 
that  it  is  by  no  means  an  accurate  resemblance  of  that 
which  exists  in  the  civilized  world.  Among  children  of 
different  ages,  strength,  and  talents,  there  must  always 
be  tyranny,  injustice,  and  that  worst  species  of  ine- 
quality, which  arises  from  superior  force  on  the  one 
side,  and  abject  timidity  on  the  other.  Of  this,  the 
spectators  of  juvenile  disputes  and  quarrels  are  some- 
times sensible  ;  and  they  nastily  interfere  and  endeavour 
to  part  the  combatants,  by  pronouncing  certain  moral 
sentences,  such  as,  "  Good  boys  never  quarrel ;  brothers 
must  love  and  help  one  another."  But  these  sentences 
seldom  operate  as  a  charm  upon  the  angry  passions ; 
the  parties  concerned  hearing  it  asserted  that  they 
must  love  one  another,  at  the  very  instant  when  they 
happen  to  feel  that  they  cannot,  are  still  farther  exas- 
perated, and  they  stand  at  bay,  sullen  in  hatred,  or  ap- 
proach, hypocritical  in  reconciliation.  It  is  more  easy 
to  prevent  occasions  of  dispute  than  to  remedy  the  bad 
consequences  which  petty  altercations  produce.  Young 
children  should  be  kept  asunder  at  all  times,  and  in  all 
situations,  in  which  it  is  necessary,  or  probable,  that 
their  appetites  and  passions  should  be  in  direct  compe- 
tition. Two  hungry  children  with  their  eager  eyes  fixed 
upon  one  and  the  same  basin  of  bread  and  milk,  do  not 
sympathize  with  each  other,  though  they  have  the  same 
sensations ;  each  perceives,  that  if  the  other  eats  the 
bread  and  milk,  he  cannot  eat  it.  Hunger  is  more 
powerful  than  sympathy ;  but  satisfy  the  hunger  of  one 
of  the  parties,  and  he  will  begin  to  feel  for  his  com- 
panion, and  will  wish  that  his  hunger  should  also  be 
satisfied.  Even  Mr.  Barnet.  the  epicure,  who  is  so  well 
described  in  Moore's  excellent  novel,*  after  he  has 
crammed  himself  to  the  throat,  asks  his  wife  to  "try  to 
eat  a  bit."  Intelligent  preceptors  will  apply  the  instance 

*  Edward. 


208  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

of  the  basin  of  bread  and  milk,  in  a  variety  of  apparently 
dissimilar  circumstances. 

We  may  observe,   that  the   more  quickly    children 
reason,  the  sooner  they  discover  how  far  their  interests 
are  any  way  incompatible  with  the  interests  of  their 
companions.     The  more  readily  a  boy  calculates,  the 
sooner  he  will  perceive,  that  if  he  were  to  share  his 
basin  of  bread  and  milk  equally  with  a  dozen  of  his 
companions,  his  own  portion  must  be  small.     The  ac- 
curacy of  his  mental  division  would  prevent  him  from 
offering  to  part  with  that  share  which,  perhaps,  a  more 
ignorant  accountant   would  be  ready  to   surrender  at 
once,  without  being  on  that  account  more  generous. 
Children  who  are  accurate  observers  of  the  counte- 
nance, and  who  have  a  superior  degree  of  penetration, 
discover  very  early  the  symptoms  of  displeasure  or  of 
affection  in  their  friends  ;  they  also  perceive  quickly 
the  dangers  of  rivalship  from  their  companions.     If  ex- 
perience convinces  them  that  they  must  lose  in  propor- 
tion as  their  companions   gain,  either  in  fame  or  in 
favour,  they  will  necessarily  dislike  them  as   rivals  ; 
their  hatred  will  be  as  vehement  as  their  love  of  praise 
and  affection  is  ardent.     Thus,  children  who  have  the 
most  lively  sympathy,  are,  unless  they  be  judiciously 
educated,  the  most  in  danger  of  feeling  early  the  ma- 
levolent passions  of  jealousy  and  envy.     It  is  inhuman, 
arid  in  every  point  of  view  unjustifiable  in  us,  to  ex- 
cite these  painful  feelings  in  children,  as  we  too  often 
do,  by  the  careless  or  partial  distribution  of  affection 
and  applause.     Exact  justice  will  best  prevent  jealousy ; 
each  individual  submits  to  justice,  because  each,  in  turn, 
feels  the  benefit  of  its  protection.     Some  preceptors, 
with  benevolent  intentions,  labour  to  preserve  a  perfect 
equality  among  their  pupils,  and,  from  the  fear  of  ex- 
citing envy  in  those  who  are  inferior,  avoid  uttering  an) 
encomiums  upon  superior  talents  and  merit.     This  man- 
agement seldom  succeeds;   the  truth  cannot  be  con- 
cealed ;   those  who   feel  their  own  superiority,  make 
painful  reflections  upon  the  injustice  done  to  them  by 
the  policy  of  their  tutors ;  those  who  are  sensible  of 
their  own  inferiority,  are  not  comforted  by  the  courtesy 
and  humiliating  forbearance  with  which  they  are  treated. 
It  is,  therefore,  best  to  speak  the  plain  truth  ;  to  give  to 
all  their  due  share  of  affection  and   applause  :  at  the 
same  time,  we  should  avoid  blaming  one  child  at  the 


SYMPATHY    AND    SENSIBILITY.  209 

moment  when  we  praise  another :  we  should  never  put 
our  pupils  in  contrast  with  one  another  ;  nor  yet  should 
we  deceive  them  as  to  their  respective  excellences  and 
defects.    Our  comparison  should  rather  be  made  between 
what  the  pupil  has  been  and  what   he  is,  than  between 
what  he   is  and  what  anybody  else  is  not.*     By  this 
style  of  praise  we  may  induce  children  to  become  emu- 
lous of  their  former  selves,  instead  of  being  envious  of 
their  competitors.  Without  deceit  or  affectation,  we  may 
also  take  care  to  associate  general  pleasure  in  a  family 
with  particular  commendations ;  thus,  if  one  boy  is  re- 
markable for  prudence,  and  another  for  generosity,  we 
should  not  praise  the  generosity  of  the  one  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  prudence  of  the  other,  but  we  should  give 
to  each  virtue  its  just  measure  of  applause.     If  one  girl 
sings,  and  another  draws,  remarkably  well,  we    may 
show  that  we  are  pleased  with  both  agreeable  accom- 
plishments, without  bringing  them   into    comparison. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  that  we  should  be  in  a  desperate 
hurry  to  balance  the  separate  degrees  of  praise  which  we 
distribute  exactly  at  the  same  moment,  because  if  chil- 
dren are  sure  that  the   reward  of  their  industry  and  in- 
genuity is  secured  by  our  justice,  they  will  trust  to  us, 
though  that  reward  may  be  for  a  few  hours  delayed.     It 
is  only  where  workmen  have  no  confidence  in  the  in- 
tegrity or  punctuality  of  their  masters,  that  they  are  im- 
patient of  any  accidental  delay  in  the  payment  of  their 
wages. 

With  the  precautions  which  have  been  mentioned, 
we  may  hope  to  see  children  grow  up  in  real  friendship 
together.  The  whole  sum  of  their  pleasure  is  much  in- 
creased by  mutual  sympathy.  This  happy  moral  truth, 
upon  which  so  many  of  our  virtues  depend,  should  be 
impressed  upon  the  mind ;  it  should  be  clearly  demon- 
strated to  the  reason  ;  it  should  not  be  repeated  as  an  a 
priori,  sentimental  assertion. 

Those  who  have  observed  the  sudden,  violent,  and 
surprising  effects  of  emulation  in  public  schools,  will  re- 
gret the  want  of  this  power  in  the  intellectual  education 
of  their  pupils  at  home.  Even  the  acquisition  of  talents 
and  knowledge  ought,  however,  to  be  but  a  secondary 
consideration,  subordinate  to  the  general  happiness  of 
our  pupils.  If  we  could  have  superior  knowledge,  upon 

*  See  Rousseau  and  Williams, 


210  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

condition  that  we  should  have  a  malevolent  dispo- 
sition and  an  irritable  temper,  should  we,  setting  every 
other  moral  consideration  aside,  be  willing  to  make  the 
purchase  at  such  a  price  ?  Let  any  person,  desirous  to 
see  a  striking  picture  of  the  effects  of  scholastic  com- 
petition upon  the  moral  character,  look  at  the  life  of  that 
wonder  of  his  age,  the  celebrated  Abeillard.  As  the 
taste  and  manners  of  the  present  times  are  so  different 
from  those  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  we  see,  with- 
out any  species  of  deception,  the  real  value  of  the  learn- 
ing in  which  he  excelled,  and  we  can  judge,  both  of  his 
acquirements  and  of  his  character,  without  prejudice. 
We  see  him  goaded  on,  by  rivalship  and  literary  am- 
bition, to  astonishing  exertions  at  one  time ;  at  another, 
torpid  in  monkish  indolence  :  at  one  time,  we  see  him 
intoxicated  with  adulation;  at  another,  listless,  de- 
sponding, abject,  incapable  of  maintaining  his  own  self- 
approbation  without  the  suffrages  of  those  whom  he 
despised.  If  his  biographer*  does  him  justice,  a  more 
selfish,  irritable,  contemptible,  miserable  being  than  the 
learned  Abeillard,  could  scarcely  exist. 

A  philosopher,}  who,  if  we  might  judge  of  him  by 
the  benignity  of  his  writings,  was  surely  of  a  most 
amiable  and  happy  temper,  has  yet  left  us  a  melancholy 
and  discouraging  history  of  the  unsociable  condition  of 
men  of  superior  knowledge  and  abilities.  He  supposes 
that  those  who  have  devoted  much  time  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  their  understandings,  have  habitually  less  sym- 
pathy, or  less  exercise  for  their  sympathy,  than  those 
who  live  less  abstracted  from  the  world  ;  that,  conse- 
quently, "  all  their  social,  and  all  their  public  affections, 
lose  their  natural  warmth  and  vigour,"  while  their  selfish 
passions  are  cherished  and  strengthened,  being  kept  in 
constant  play  by  literary  rivalship.  It  is  to  be  hoped, 
that  there  are  men  of  the  most  extensive  learning  and 
genius,  now  living,  who  could,  from  their  own  experi- 
ence, assure  us  that  these  are  obsolete  observations,  no 
longer  applicable  to  modern  human  nature.  At  all 
events,  we,  who  refer  so  much  to  education,  are  hope- 
fully of  opinion,  that  education  can  prevent  these  evils, 


*  Berington.     See  his  Life  of  Abeillard. 

t  Dr.  John  Gregory.  Comparative  View  of  the*  State  and  Fac- 
ulties of  Man  with  those  of  the  Animal  World.  See  vol.  ii.  oi 
Works,  from  page  100  to  114. 


SYMPATHY    AND    SENSIBILITY.  211 

in  common  with  almost  all  the  other  evils  of  life.  It 
would  be  an  error,  fatal  to  all  improvement,  to  believe 
that  the  cultivation  of  the  understanding  impedes  the 
exercise  of  the  social  affections.  Obviously,  a  man 
who  secludes  himself  from  the  world,  and  whose  whole 
life  is  occupied  with  abstract  studies,  cannot  enjoy  any 
pleasure  from  his  social  affections ;  his  admiration  of 
the  dead  is  so  constant,  that  he  has  no  time  to  feel  any 
sympathy  with  the  living.  An  individual  of  this  rumi- 
nating species  is  humorously  delineated  in  Mrs.  D'Ar- 
blay's  Camilla.  Men  who  are  compelled  to  unrelenting 
labour,  whether  by  avarice  or  by  literary  ambition,  are 
equally  to  be  pitied.  They  are  not  models  for  imita- 
tion ;  they  sacrifice  their  happiness  to  some  strong  pas- 
sion or  interest.  Without  this  ascetic  abstinence  from 
the  domestic  and  social  pleasures  of  life,  surely  persons 
may  cultivate  their  understandings,  and  acquire,  even 
by  mixing  with  their  fellow-creatures,  a  variety  of  use- 
ful knowledge. 

An  ingenious  theory*  supposes  that  the  exercise  of  any 
of  our  faculties  is  always  attended  with  pleasure,  which 
lasts  as  long  as  that  exercise  can  be  continued  without 
fatigue.  This  pleasure,  arising  from  the  due  exercise 
of  our  mental  powers,  the  author  of  this  theory  main- 
tains to  be  the  foundation  of  our  most  agreeable  senti- 
ments. If  there  be  any  truth  in  these  ideas,  of  how 
many  agreeable  sentiments  must  a  man  of  sense  be 
capable!  The  pleasures  of  society  must  to  him  in- 
crease in  an  almost  incalculable  proportion  ;  because, 
in  conversation,  his  faculties  can  never  want  subjects 
on  which  they  may  be  amply  exercised.  The  dearth 
of  conversation,  which  everybody  may  have  felt  in  cer- 
tain company,  is  always  attended  with  mournful  coun- 
tenances, and  every  symptom  of  ennui.  Indeed,  with- 
out the  pleasures  of  conversation,  society  is  reduced  to 
meetings  of  people,  who  assemble  to  eat  and  drink,  to 
show  their  fine  clothes,  to  weary  and  to  hate  each 
other.  The  sympathy  of  bon  vivants  is,  it  must  be  ac- 
knowledged, very  lively  and  sincere  towards  each  other; 
but  this  can  last  only  during  the  hour  of  dinner,  unless  they 
revive,  and  prolong,  by  the  powers  of  imagination,  the 
memory  of  the  feast.  Some  foreign  traveller!  tells  us, 

*  Vernet's  Theorie  des  Sentimens  Agr^ables. 
t  See  Varieties  of  Literature,  vol.  i. 


212 


PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 


that  "  every  year  at  Naples,  an  officer  of  the  police 
goes  through  the  city,  attended  by  a  trumpeter,  who 
proclaims  in  all  the  squares  and  crossways  how  many 
thousand  oxen,  calves,  lambs,  hogs,  &c.  the  Neapolitans 
have  had  the  honour  of  eating  in  the  course  of  the  year. 
The  people  all  listen  with  extreme  attention  to  this 
proclamation,  and  are  immoderately  delighted  at  the  huge 
amount." 

A  degree,  and  scarcely  one  degree,  above  the  brute 
sympathy  of  good  eaters,  is  that  gregarious  propensity 
which  is  sometimes  honoured  with  the  name  of  socia- 
bility. The  current  sympathy,  or  appearance  of  sym- 
pathy, which  is  to  be  found  among  the  idle  and  frivolous 
in  fashionable  life,  is  wholly  unconnected  with  even 
the  idea  of  esteem.  It  is  therefore  pernicious  to  all 
who  partake  of  it ;  it  excites  to  no  great  exertions  ;  it 
rewards  neither  useful  nor  amiable  qualities :  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  to  be  obtained  by  vice  rather  than  by 
virtue ;  by  folly  much  more  readily  than  by  wisdom. 
It  is  the  mere  follower  of  fashion  and  of  dissipation, 
and  it  keeps  those  in  humour  and  countenance  who 
ought  to  hear  the  voice  of  public  reproach,  and  who 
might  be  roused  by  the  fear  of  disgrace  or  the  feelings 
of  shame,  to  exertions  which  should  justly  entitle  them 
to  the  approbation  and  affection  of  honourable  friends. 

Young  people  who  are  early  in  life  content  with  this 
convivial  sympathy,  may,  in  the  common  phrase,  become 
very  good  pleasant  companions  ;  but  there  is  little  chance 
that  they  should  ever  become  any  thing  more,  and  there 
is  great  danger  that  they  may  be  led  into  any  degree 
of  folly,  extravagance,  or  vice,  to  which  fashion  and 
the  voice  of  numbers  invite.  It  sometimes  happens, 
that  men  of  superior  abilities  have  such  an  indiscrim- 
inate love  of  applause  and  sympathy,  that  they  reduce 
themselves  to  the  standard  of  all  their  casual  compan- 
ions, and  vary  their  objects  of  ambition  with  the  opinion 
of  the  silly  people  with  whom  they  chance  to  associate. 
In  public  life,  party  spirit  becomes  the  ruling  principle 
of  men  of  this  character;  in  private  life,  they  are  ad- 
dicted to  clubs  and  associations  of  all  sorts,  in  which 
the  contagion  of  sympathy  has  a  power  which  the  sober 
influence  of  reason  seldom  ventures  to  correct.  The 
waste  of  talents  and  the  total  loss  of  principle  to  which 
this  indiscriminate  love  of  sympathy  leads,  should  warn 
us  to  guard  against  its  influence  by  early  education. 


SYMPATHY     AND    SK.NS1BILITY.  213 

The  gregarious  propensity  in  childhood  should  not  be 
indulged  without  precautions  :  unless  their  companions 
are  well  educated,  we  can  never  be  reasonably  secure 
of  the  conduct  or  happiness  of  our  pupils :  from  sym- 
pathy, they  catch  all  the  wishes,  tastes,  and  ideas  of 
those  with  whom  they  associate ;  and  what  is  still 
worse,  they  acquire  the  dangerous  habits  of  resting 
upon  the  support,  and  of  wanting  the  stimulus  of  num- 
bers. It  is,  surely,  far  more  prudent  to  let  children  feel 
a  little  ennui,  from  the  want  of  occupation  and  of  com- 
pany, than  to  purchase  for  them  the  juvenile  pleasures 
of  society  at  the  expense  of  their  future  happiness. 
Childhood,  as  a  part  of  our  existence,  ought  to  have  as 
great  a  share  of  happiness  as  it  can  enjoy  compatibly 
with  the  advantage  of  the  other  seasons  of  life.  By 
this  principle  we  should  be  guided,  in  all  which  we 
allow  and  in  all  which  we  refuse  to  children  ;  by  this 
rule,  we  may  avoid  unnecessary  severity  and  pernicious 
indulgence. 

As  young  people  gradually  acquire  knowledge,  they 
will  learn  to  converse ;  and  when  they  have  the  habits  of 
conversing  rationally,  they  will  not  desire  companions 
who  can  only  chatter.  They  will  prefer  the  company 
of  friends,  who  can  sympathize  in  their  occupations, 
to  the  presence  of  ignorant  idlers,  who  can  fill  up  the 
void  of  ideas  with  nonsense  and  noise.  Some  people 
have  a  notion  that  the  understanding  and  the  heart 
are  not  to  be  educated  at  the  same  time ;  but  the 
very  reverse  of  this  is,  perhaps,  true  ;  neither  can  be 
brought  to  any  perfection,  unless  both  are  cultivated 
together. 

We  should  not,  therefore,  expect  premature  virtues. 
During  childhood,  but  few  opportunities  occur  of  exert- 
ing the  virtues  which  are  recommended  in  books,  such 
as  humanity  and  generosity. 

The  humanity  of  children  cannot,  perhaps,  properly 
be  said  to  be  exercised  upon  animals ;  they  are  fre- 
quently extremely  fond  of  animals,  but  they  are  not 
always  equable  in  their  fondness ;  they  sometimes  treat 
their  favourites  with  that  caprice  which  favourites  are 
doomed  to  experience  ;  this  caprice  degenerates  into 
cruelty,  if  it  is  resented  by  the  sufferer.  We  must  not 
depend  merely  upon  the  natural  feelings  of  compassion 
as  preservatives  against  cruelty  ;  the  instinctive  feelings 
of  compassion  are  strong  among  uneducated  people ; 


214  I'iJACJ  K;AI.     I  DUC/vTION. 

yet  these  do  not  restrain  them  from  acts  of  cruelty. 
They  take  delight,  it  has  often  been  observed,  in  all 
tragical,  sanguinary  spectacles,  because  these  excite 
emotion,  and  relieve  them  from  the  listless  state  in 
which  their  days  usually  pass.  It  is  the  same  with  all 
persons,  in  all  ranks  of  life,  whose  minds  are  unculti- 
vated.* Until  young  people  have  fixed  habits  of  be- 
nevolence, and  a  taste  for  occupation,  perhaps  it  is  not 
prudent  to  trust  them  with  the  care  or  protection  of 
animals.  Even  when  they  are  enthusiastically  fond  of 
them,  they  cannot,  by  their  utmost  ingenuity,  make 
the  animals  so  happy  in  a  state  of  captivity  as  they 
would  be  in  a  state  of  liberty.  They  are  apt  to  insist 
upon  doing  animals  good  against  their  will,  and  they  are 
often  unjust  in  the  defence  of  their  favourites.  A  boy 
of  seven  years  old  once  knocked  down  his  sister,  to 
prevent  her  crushing  his  caterpillar.! 

Children  should  not  be  taught  to  confine  their  be- 
nevolence to  those  animals  which  are  thought  beauti- 
ful ;  the  fear  and  disgust  which  we  express  at  the  sight 
of  certain  unfortunate  animals,  which  we  are  pleased 
to  call  ugly  and  shocking,  are  observed  by  children,  and 
these  associations  lead  to  cruelty.  If  we  do  not  pre- 
judice our  pupils  by  foolish  exclamations  ;  if  they  do 
not,  from  sympathy,  catch  our  absurd  antipathies,  their 
benevolence  towards  the  animal  world  will  not  be  illib- 
erally confined  to  favourite  lapdogs  and  singing-birds. 
From  association,  most  people  think  that  frogs  are  ugly 

animals.  L ,  a  boy  between  five  and  six  years 

old,  once  begged  his  mother  to  come  out  to  look  at  a 
beautiful  animal  which  he  had  just  found ;  she  was 
rather  surprised  to  find  that  this  beautiful  creature  was 
a  frog. 

If  children  never  see  others  torment  animals,  they 
will  not  think  that  cruelty  can  be  an  amusement ;  but 
they  may  be  provoked  to  revenge  the  pain  which  is  in- 
flicted upon  them ;  and  therefore  we  should  take  care 
not  to  put  children  in  situations  where  they  are  liable 
to  be  hurt  or  terrified  by  animals.  Could  we  possibly 
expect  that  Gulliver  should  love  the  Brobdignagian  wasp 

*  Can  it  be  true,  that  an  English  nobleman,  in  the  18th  century, 
won  a  bet  by  procuring  a  man  to  eat  a  cat  alive  ? 

f  See  Moore's  Edward,  for  the  Boy  and  Larks,  an  excellent  story 
for  children. 


SYMPATHY     AND    SI- 'MSlBlLlTY.  215 

that  buzzed  round  his  cake,  and  prevented  him  from 
eating  his  breakfast  ?  Could  we  expect  that  Gulliver 
should  be  ever  reconciled  to  the  rat  against  which  he 
was  obliged  to  draw  his  sword  1  Many  animals  are,  to 
children,  what  the  wasp  and  the  rat  were  to  Gulliver. 
Put  bodily  fear  out  of  the  case — it  required  all  uncle 
Toby's  benevolence  to  bear  the  buzzing  of  a  gnat  while 
he  was  eating  his  dinner.  Children,  even  when  they  have 
no  cause  to  be  afraid  of  animals,  are  sometimes  in  situa- 
tions to  be  provoked  by  them  ;  and  the  nice  casuist  will 
find  it  difficult  to  do  strict  justice  upon  the  offended  and 
the  offenders. 

October  2,  1796.     S ,  nine  years  old,  took  care 

of  his  brother  H 's  hotbed   for  some  time,  when 

H was  absent  from   home.      He   was   extremely 

anxious  about  his  charge  ;  he  took  one  of  his  sisters  to 
look  at  the  hotbed,  showed  her  a  hole  where  the  mice 
came  in,  and  expressed  great  hatred  against  the  whole 
race.  He  the  same  day  asked  his  mother  for  a  bait  for 
the  mousetrap ;  his  mother  refused  to  give  him  one, 
telling  him  that  she  did  not  wish  he  should  learn  to  kill 
animals.  How  good-nature  sometimes  leads  to  the 
opposite  feeling!  S 's  love  for  his  brother's  cu- 
cumbers made  him  imagine  and  compass  the  death  of 
the  mice.  Children  should  be  protected  against  ani- 
mals which  we  do  not  wish  that  they  should  hate :  if 
cats  scratch  them,  and  dogs  bite  them,  and  mice  devour 
the  fruits  of  their  industry,  children  must  consider  these 
animals  as  enemies ;  they  cannot  love  them,  and  they 
may  learn  the  habit  of  revenge,  from  being  exposed  to 
their  insults  and  depredations.  Pythagoras  himself 
would  have  insisted  upon  his  exclusive  right  to  the 
vegetables  on  which  he  was  to  subsist,  especially  if  he 
had  raised  them  by  his  own  care  and  industry.  Buf- 
fon,*  notwithstanding  all  his  benevolent  philosophy,  can 
scarcely  speak  with  patience  of  his  enemies,  the  field- 
mice  ;  which,  when  he  was  trying  experiments  upon  the 
culture  of  forest  trees,  tormented  him  perpetually  by 
their  insatiable  love  of  acorns.  "  / was  terrified"  says 
he,  "  at  the  discovery  of  half  a  bushel,  and  often  a  whole 
bushel,  of  acorns  in  each  of  the  holes  inhabited  by  these 
little  animals  ;  they  had  collected  these  acorns  for  their 
winter  provision."  The  philosopher  gave  orders  im- 

*  Mem.  de  1'Acad.  R.  for  the  vear  1742,  p.  332, 


216  i'UACTlCAL  EDUCATION. 


mediately  for  the  erection  of  a  great  number  of  traps 
and  snares,  baited  with  broiled  nuts  ;  in  less  than  three 
weeks,  nearly  three  hundred  fieldrnice  were  killed  or 
taken  prisoners.  Mankind  are  obliged  to  carry  on  a 
defensive  war  with  the  animal  world.  "  Eat  or  be  eaten," 
says  Doctor  Darwin,  "  is  the  great  law  of  nature."  It  is 
fortunate  for  us  that  there  are  butchers  by  profession 
in  the  world,  and  rat-catchers  and  cats,  otherwise  our 
habits  of  benevolence  and  sympathy  would  be  utterly 
destroyed.  Children,  though  they  must  perceive  the 
necessity  for  destroying  certain  animals,  need  not  be 
themselves  executioners ;  they  should  not  conquer  the 
natural  repugnance  to  the  sight  of  the  struggles  of  pain 
and  the  convulsions  of  death;  their  aversion  to  being 
the  cause  of  pain  should  be  preserved,  both  by  principle 
and  habit.  Those  who  have  not  been  habituated  to  the 
bloody  form  of  cruelty,  can  never  fix  their  eye  upon  her 
without  shuddering ;  even  those  to  whom  she  may 
have,  in  some  instances,  been  early  familiarized,  recoil 
from  her  appearance  in  any  shape  to  which  they  have 
not  been  accustomed.  At  one  of  the  magnificent  shows 
with  which  Pompey*  entertained  the  Roman  people  for 
five  days  successively,  the  populace  enjoyed  the  death 
of  wild  beasts  :  five  hundred  lions  were  killed  ;  but,  on 
the  last  day,  when  twenty  elephants  were  put  to  death, 
the  people,  unused  to  the  sight,  and  moved  by  the  la- 
mentable howlings  of  these  animals,  were  seized  with 
sudden  compassion ;  they  execrated  Pompey  himself 
for  being  the  author  of  so  much  cruelty. 

Charity  for  the  poor  is  often  inculcated  in  books  for 
children;  but  how  is  this  virtue  .to  be  actually  brought 
into  practice  in  childhood  1  Unless  proper  objects  of 
charity  are  selected  by  the  parents,  children  have  no 
opportunities  of  discovering  them  ;  they  have  not  suffi- 
cient knowledge  of  the  world  to  distinguish  truth  from 
falsehood  in  the  complaints  of  the  distressed  ;  nor  have 
they  sufficiently  enlarged  views  to  discern  the  best 
means  of  doing  good  to  their,  fellow-creatures.  They 
may  give  away  money  to  the  poor,  but  they  do  not  al- 
ways feel  the  value  of  what  they  give :  they  give  coun- 
ters -  supplied  with  all  the  necessaries  and  luxuries  of 
life,  they  have  no  use  for  money ;  they  feel  no  priva- 
tion; they  make  no  sacrifice  in  giving  money  away,  or, 

*  See  Middleton's  Life  of  Cicero,  vol.  i,  p.  474, 


SYMPATHY     AM)    SENSIBILITY.  '117 

al  least,  none  worthy  to  be  extolled  as  heroic.  When 
children  grow  up,  they  learn  the  value  of  money  ;  their 
generosity  will  then  cost  them  rather  more  effort,  and 
yet  can  be  rewarded  only  with  the  same  expressions 
of  gratitude,  with  the  same  blessings  from  the  beggar, 
or  the  same  applause  from  the  spectator. 

Let  us  put  charity  out  of  the  question,  and  suppose 
that  the  generosity  of  children  is  displayed  in  making 
presents  to  their  companions,  still  there  are  difficulties. 
These  presents  are  usually  baubles,  which  at  the  best 
can  encourage  only  a  frivolous  taste.  But  we  must 
further  consider,  that  even  generous  children  are  apt  to 
expect  generosity  equal  to  their  own  from  their  com- 
panions; then  come  tacit  or  explicit  comparisons  of  the 
value  or  elegance  of  their  respective  gifts  ;  the  difficult 
rules  of  exchange  and  barter  are  to  be  learned  ;  and 
nice  calculations  of  Tare  and  Tret  are  entered  into  by 
the  repentant  borrowers  and  lenders.  A  sentimental, 
too  often  ends  in  a  commercial  intercourse  ;  and  those 
who  begin  with  the  most  munificent  dispositions,  some 
times  end  with  selfish  discontent,  low  cunning,  or  dis 
gusting  ostentation.  Whoever  has  carefully  attended 
to  young  makers  of  presents  and  makers  of  bargains, 
will  not  think  this  account  of  them  much  exaggerated. 

"  Then  what  is  to  be  done  ?  How  are  the  social  affec- 
tions to  be  developed  ?  How  is  the  sensibility  of  chil- 
dren to  be  tried  1  How  is  the  young  heart  to  display 
its  most  amiable  feelings  V  a  sentimental  preceptress 
will  impatiently  inquire. 

The  amiable  feelings  of  the  heart  need  not  be  dis- 
played ;  they  may  be  sufficiently  exercised  without  the 
stimulus  either  of  our  eloquence  or  our  applause.  In 
Madame  de  Silleri's  account  of  the  education  of  the 
children  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  there  appears  rather 
too  much  sentimental  artifice  and  management.  When 
the  Dutchess  of  Orleans  was  ill,  the  children  were  in- 
structed to  write  "  charming  notes"  from  day  to  day, 
and  from  hour  to  hour,  to  inquire  how  she  did.  Once 
when  a  servant  was  going  from  St.  Leu  to  Paris, 
Madame  de  Silleri  asked  her  pupils  if  they  had  any 
commissions  ;  the  little  Duke  de  Chartres  said,  yes, 
and  gave  a  message  about  a  birdcage,  but  he  did  not 
recollect  to  write  to  his  mother,  till  somebody  whis- 
pered to  him  that  he  had  forgotten  it,  Madame  de  Sil- 
leri calls  this  childish  forgetfulness  a  "  heinous  offence ;" 
19 


218  PRACTICAL 

but  was  it  not  very  natural,  that  the  boy  should  think 
of  his  birdcage  ]  and  what  mother  would  wish  that  her 
children  should  have  it  put  in  their  head  to  inquire  after 
her  health  in  the  complimentary  style  1  Another  time 
Madame  de  Silleri  is  displeased  with  her  pupils,  because 
they  did  not  show  sufficient  sympathy  and  concern  for 
her  when  she  had  a  headache  or  sore  throat.  The  exact 
number  of  messages  which,  consistently  with  the  strict 
duties  of  friendship,  they  ought  to  have  sent,  are  upon 
another  occasion  prescribed. 

"  I  had  yesterday  afternoon  a  violent  attack  of  the 
cholic,  and  you  discovered  the  greatest  sensibility.  By 
the  journal  of  M,  le  Brun,  I  find  it  was  the  Duke  de 
Montpensier  who  thought  this  morning  of  writing  to 
inquire  how  I  did.  You  left  me  yesterday  in  a  very 
calm  state,  and  there  was  no  reason  for  anxiety ;  but, 
consistently  with  the  strict  duties  of  friendship,  you 
ought  to  have  given  orders  before  you  went  to  bed,  for 
inquiries  to  be  made  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to 
know  whether  I  had  had  any  return  of  my  complaint 
during  the  night ;  and  you  should  again  have  sent  at 
ten,  to  learn  from  myself,  the  instant  1  awoke,  the  exact 
state  of  my  health.  Such  are  the  benevolent  and  ten- 
der cares  which  a  lively  and  sincere  friendship  dictates. 
You  must  accustom  yourselves  to  the  observance  of 
them,  if  you  wish  to'  be  beloved." 

Another  day,  Madame  de  Silleri  told  the  Duke  de 
Chartres  that  he  had  a  very  idiotic  appearance,  because, 
when  he  went  to  see  his  mother,  his  attention  was 
taken  up  by  two  paroquets  which  happened  to  be  in 
the  room.  All  these  reproaches  and  documents  could 
not,  we  should  apprehend,  tend  to  increase  the  real  sen- 
sibility and  affection  of  children.  Gratitude  is  one  of 
the  most  certain,  but  one  of  the  latest,  rewards,  which 
preceptors  and  parents  should  expect  from  their  pupils. 
Those  who  are  too  impatient  to  wait  for  the  gradual 
development  of  the  affections,  will  obtain  from  their 
children,  instead  of  warm,  genuine,  enlightened  grati- 
tude, nothing  but  the  expression  of  cold,  constrained, 
stupid  hypocrisy.  During  the  process  of  education,  a 
child  cannot  perceive  its  ultimate  end ;  how  can  he 
judge  whether  the  means  employed  by  his  parents  are 
well  adapted  to  effect  their  purposes  1  Moments  of  re- 
straint and  of  privation,  or  perhaps  of  positive  pain,  must. 
be  endured  by  children  under  the  mildest  system  of  edu- 


SYMPATHY    AND    SENSIBILITY.  219 

cation  :  they  must,  therefore,  perceive,  that  their  pa- 
rents are  the  immediate  cause  of  some  evil  to  them  ; 
the  remote  good  is  beyond  their  view.  And  can  we 
expect  from  an  infant  the  systematic  resignation  of 
an  optimist  ?  Belief  upon  trust  is  very  different  from 
that  which  arises  from  experience  ;  and  no  one,  who 
understands  the  human  heart,  will  expect  incompatible 
feelings  :  in  the  mind  of  a  child,  the  feeling  of  present 
pain  is  incompatible  with  gratitude.  Mrs.  Macauley 
mentions  a  striking  instance  of  extorted  gratitude.  A 
poor  child  who  had  been  taught  to  return  thanks  for 
every  thing,  had  a  bitter  medicine  given  to  her ;  when 
she  had  drank  it,  she  courtesied  and  said,  "Thank  you 
for  my  good  stuff."  There  was  a  mistake  in  the  medi- 
cine, and  the  child  died  the  next  morning. 

Children  who  are  not  sentimentally  educated,  often 
offend  by  their  simplicity,  and  frequently  disgust  people 
of  impatient  feelings  by  their  apparent  indifference  to 
things  which  are  expected  to  touch  their  sensibility. 
Let  us  be  content  with  nature,  or  rather  let  us  never 
exchange  simplicity  for  affectation.  Nothing  hurts 
young  people  more  than  to  be  watched  continually  about 
their  feelings,  to  have  their  countenances  scrutinized, 
and  the  degrees  of  their  sensibility  measured  by  the 
surveying  eye  of  the  unmerciful  spectator.  Under  the 
constraint  of  such  examinations,  they  can  think  of 
nothing,  but  that  they  are  looked  at,  and  feel  nothing  but 
shame  or  apprehension :  they  are  afraid  to  lay  their 
minds  open,  lest  they  should  be  convicted  of  some  de- 
ficiency of  feeling.  On  the  contrary,  children  who  are 
not  in  dread  of  this  sentimental  inquisition,  speak  their 
minds,  the  truth,  and  the  whole  truth,  without  effort  or 
disguise:  they  lay  open  their  hearts,  and  tell  their 
thoughts  as  they  arise,  with  simplicity  that  would  not 
fear  to  enter  even  "  The  palace  of  Truth."* 

A  little  girl,  Ho ,  who  was  not  quite  four  years 

old,  asked  her  mother  to  give  her  a  plaything :  one 
of  her  sisters  had  just  before  asked  for  the  same  thing. 
"  I  cannot  give  it  to  you  both,"  said  the  mother. 

Ho .  No,  but  I  wish  you  to  give  it  to  me,  and  not 

to  E . 

Mother.  Don't  you  wish  your  sister  to  have  what  she 
wants  "I 

*  See  Le  Palais  de  la  Verite.— Madame  de  Genlis  Veilltes  du 
Ch4teau. 

K  2 


220  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

Ho .  Mother,  if  I  say  that  I  don't  wish  so,  wiL 

you  give  it  to  me  ? 

Perhaps  this  naivete  might  have  displeased  some  scru- 
pulous admirers  of  politeness,  who  could  not  "discover 
in  it  symptoms  of  that  independent  simplicity  of  charac- 
ter, for  which  the  child  who  made  this  speech  was  dis- 
tinguished. 

"  Do  you  always  love  me  1"  said  a  mother  to  her  son, 
who  was  about  four  years  old. 

"  Always,"  said  the  child,  "  except  when  I  am  asleep." 

Mother.  "  And  why  do  you  not  love  me  when  you  are 
asleep  ?" 

Son.  "  Because  I  do  not  think  of  you  then." 

This  sensible  answer  showed  that  the  boy  reflected 
accurately  upon  his  own  feelings,  and  a  judicious  pa- 
rent must  consequently  have  a  sober  certainty  of  his 
affection.  The  thoughtless  caresses  of  children  who 
are  never  accustomed  to  reason,  are  lavished  alike  upon 
strangers  and  friends,  and  their  fondness  of  to-day 
may,  without  any  reasonable  cause,  become  aversion  by 
to-morrow. 

Children  are  often  asked  to  tell  which  of  their  friends 
they  love  the  best,  but  they  are  seldom  required  to  as- 
sign any  reason  for  their  choice.  It  is  not  prudent  to 
question  them  frequently  about  their  own  feelings  ;  but 
whenever  they  express  any  decided  preference,  we 
should  endeavour  to  lead,  not  to  drive  them  to  reflect 
upon  the  reasons  for  their  affection.  They  will  proba- 
bly at  first  mention  some  particular  instance  of  kind- 
ness which  they  have  lately  received  from  the  person 
whom  they  prefer.  "  I  like  such  a  person  because  he 
mended  my  top." — "  I  like  such  another  because  he  took 
me  out  to  walk  with  him  and  let  me  gather  flowers." 
By  degrees  we  may  teach  children  to  generalize  their 
ideas,  and  to  perceive  that  they  like  people  for  being 
either  useful  or  agreeable. 

The  desire  to  return  kindness  by  kindness  arises  very 
early  in  the  mind  ;  and  the  hope  of  conciliating  the 
good-wifl  of  the  powerful  beings  by  whom  they  are  sur- 
rounded, is  one  of  the  first  wishes  that  appears  in  the 
minds  of  intelligent  and  affectionate  children.  From 
this  sense  of  mutual  dependance  the  first  principles  of 
social  intercourse  are  deduced  ;  and  we  may  render  our 
pupils  either  mean  sycophants,  or  useful  and  honourable 
members  of  society,  by  the  methods  which  we  use  to 


i 


SYMPATHY    AND    SENSIBILITY.  221 

direct  their  first  efforts  to  please.  It  should  be  our  ob- 
ject to  convince  them,  that  the  exchange  of  mutual 
good  offices  contributes  to  happiness ;  and  while  we 
connect  the  desire  to  assist  others  with  the  perception 
of  the  beneficial  consequences  that  eventually  arise  to 
themselves,  we  may  be  certain  that  children  will  never 
become  blindly  selfish  or  idly  sentimental.  We  cannot 
help  admiring  the  simplicity,  strength  of  mind,  and  good 
sense,  of  a  little  girl  of  four  years  .old,  who,  when  she 
was  put  into  a  stagecoach  with  a  number  of  strangers, 
looked  round  upon  them  all,  and,  after  a  few  minutes' 
silence,  addressed  them,  with  the  imperfect  articulation 
of  infancy,  in  the  following  words : 

"  If  you'll  be  good  to  me,  I'll  be  good  to  you." 

While  we  were  writing  upon  sympathy  and  sensi- 
bility, we  met  with  the  following  apposite  passage  : 

"  In  1765, 1  was,"  says  M.  de  St.  Pierre,  "  at  Dresden, 
at  a  play  acted  at  court;  it  was  the  Pere  de  Famille. 
The  electoress  came  in  with  one  of  her  daughters,  who 
might  be  about  five  or  six  years  old.  An  officer  of  the 
Saxon  guards,  who  came  with  me  to  the  play,  whis- 
pered, '  That  child  will  interest  you  as  much  as  the 
play.'  As  soon  as  she  was  seated,  she  placed  both  her 
hands  on  the  front  of  the  box,  fixed  her  eyes  upon  the 
stage,  and  continued  with  her  mouth  open,  all  attention 
to  the  motions  of  the  actors.  It  was  truly  touching  to 
see  their  different  passions  painted  on  her  face  as  in  a 
glass.  There  appeared  in  her  countenance  successively, 
anxiety,  surprise,  melancholy,  and  grief;  at  length,  the 
interest  increasing  in  every  scene,  tears  began  to  flow, 
which  soon  ran  in  abundance  down  her  little  cheeks ; 
then  came  agitation,  sighs,  and  loud  sobs ;  at  last  they 
were  obliged  to  carry  her  out  of  the  box,  lest  she  should 
choke  herself  with  crying.  My,  next  neighbour  told 
me,  that  every  time  that  this  young  princess  came  to  a 
pathetic  play,  she  was  obliged  to  leave  the  house  before 
the  catastrophe." 

"  I  have  seen,"  continues  M.  de  St.  Pierre, "  instances 
of  sensibility  still  more  touching  among  the  children  of 
the  common  people,  because  the  emotion  was  not  here 
produced  by  any  theatrical  effect.  As  I  was  walking 
some  years  ago  in  the  Pre  St.  Gervais,  at  the  beginning 
of  winter,  I  saw  a  poor  woman  lying  on  the  ground, 
busied  in  weeding  a  bed  of  sorrel ;  near  her  was  a  little 
girl  of  six  years  old  at  the  utmost,  standing  motionless, 


222  PRACTICAL     KDUCATION. 

and  all  purple  with  cold.  I  addressed  myself  to  this 
woman,  who  appeared  to  be  ill,  and  I  asked  her  what 
was  the  matter  with  her.  Sir,  said  she,  for  these  three 
months  I  have  suffered  terribly  from  the  rheumatism, 
but  my  illness  troubles  me  less  than  this  child  ;  she 
never  will  leave  me ;  if  I  say  to  her,  Thou  art  quite 
frozen,  go  and  warm  thyself  in  the  house,  she  answers 
me,  Alas  !  mamma,  if  I  leave  you,  you'll  certainly  fall  ill 
again !" 

"  Another  time,  being  at  Marly,  I  went  to  see,  in  the 
groves  of  that  magnificent  park,  that  charming  group  of 
children  who  are  feeding  with  vine  leaves  and  grapes  a 
goat  which  seems  to  be  playing  with  them.  Near  this 
spot  is  an  open  summer-house,  where  Louis  XV.,  on 
fine  days,  used  sometimes  to  take  refreshment.  As  it 
was  showery  weather,  I  went  to  take  shelter  for  a  few 
minutes.  I  found  there  three  children,  who  were  much 
more  interesting  than  children  of  marble.  They  were 
two  little  girls,  very  pretty,  and  very  busily  employed 
in  picking  up,  all  round  the  summer-house,  dry  sticks, 
which  they  put  into  a  sort  of  wallet  which  was  lying 
upon  the  king's  table,  while  a  little  ill-clothed,  thin  boy, 
was  devouring  a  bit  of  bread  in  one  corner  of  the  room. 
I  asked  the  tallest  of  the  children,  who  appeared  to  be 
between  eight  and  nine  years  old,  what  she  meant  to  do 
with  the  wood  which  she  was  gathering  together  with 
so  much  eagerness.  She  answered,  *  Sir,  you  see  that 
little  boy,  he  is  very  unhappy.  He  has  a  mother-in-law' 
(Why  always  a  mother-in-law  ?)  '  He  has  a  mother-in- 
law,  who  sends  him  all  day  long  to  look  for  wood ; 
when  he  does  not  bring  any  home,  he  is  beaten ;  when 
he  has  got  any,  the  Swiss  who  stands  at  the  entrance 
of  the  park  takes  it  all  away  from  him,  and  keeps  it  for 
himself.  The  boy  is  almost  starved  with  hunger,  and 
we  have  given  him  our  breakfast.'  After  having  said 
thase  words,  she  and  her  companion  finished  filling  the 
little  wallet,  packed  it  upon  the  boy's  shoulders,  and 
ran  before  their  unfortunate  friend,  to  see  that  he  might 
pass  in  safety." 

We  have  read  these  three  anecdotes  to  several  chil- 
dren, and  have  found  that  the  active  friends  of  the  little 
wood-cutter  were  the  most  admired.  It  is  probable, 
that  among  children  who  have  been  much  praised  for 
expressions  of  sensibility,  the  young  lady  who  wept  so 
bitterly  at  the  playhouse  would  be  preferred  ;  affection- 


SYMPATHY     AND    SRNSTBIUTY.  223 

ate  children  will  like  the  little  girl  who  stood,  purple 
with  cold,  beside  her  sick  mother;  but  if  they  have  been 
well  educated,  they  will  probably  express  some  surprise 
nt  her  motionless  attitude;  they  will  ask  why  she  did 
not  try  to  help  her  mother  to  weed  the  bed  of  sorrel. 

It  requires  much  skill  and  delicacy  in  our  conduct 
towards  children,  to  preserve  a  proper  medium  between 
the  indulging  and  the  repressing  of  their  sensibility. 
We  are  cruel  towards  them  when  we  suspect  their  gen- 
uine expressions  of  affection ;  nothing  hurts  the  temper 
of  a  generous  child  more  than  this  species  of  injustice. 
Receive  his  expressions  of  kindness  and  gratitude  with 
cold  reserve,  or  a  look  that  implies  a  doubt  of  his  truth, 
and  you  give  him  «o  much  pain,  that  you  not  only  re- 
press, but  destroy  his  affectionate  feelings.  On  the  con- 
trary, if  you  appear  touched  and  delighted  by  his  ca- 
resses, from  the  hope  of  pleasing,  he  will  be  naturally 
inclined  to  repeat  such  demonstrations  of  sensibility : 
this  repetition  should  be  gently  discouraged,  lest  it 
should  lead  to  affectation.  At  the  same  time,  though 
we  take  this  precaution,  we  should  consider,  that  chil- 
dren are  not  early  sensible  that  affectation  is  either 
ridiculous  or  disgusting ;  they  are  not  conscious  of 
doing  any  thing  wrong  by  repeating  what  they  have 
once  perceived  to  be  agreeable  in  their  own,  or  in  the 
manners  of  others.  They  frequently  imitate,  without 
any  idea  that  imitation  is  displeasing ;  their  object,  as 
Locke  observes,  is  to  please  by  affectation;  they  only 
mistake  the  means:  we  should  rectify  this  mistake 
without  treating  it  as  a  crime. 

A  little  girl  of  five  years  stood  beside  her  mother,  ob- 
serving the  distribution  of  a  dish  of  strawberries,  the 
first  strawberries  of  the  year ;  and  seeing  a  number  of 
people  busily  helping  and  being  helped  to  cream  and 
sugar,  said,  in  a  low  voice,  not  meant  to  attract  atten- 
tion, "  I  like  to  see  people  helping  one  another.1'  Had 
the  child,  at  this  instant,  been  praised  for  this  natural 
expression  of  sympathy,  the  pleasure  of  praise  would 
have  been  immediately  substituted  in  her  mind,  instead 
of  the  feeling  of  benevolence,  which  was  in  itself  suffi- 
ciently agreeable  ;  and,  perhaps,  from  a  desire  to  please, 
she  would,  upon  the  next  favourable  occasion,  have  re- 
peated the  same  sentiment ;  this  we  should  immediately 
call  affectation  ;  but  how  could  the  child  foresee,  that 
fhe  repetition  of  what  we  formerly  liked  would  be  of 


224  PRACTICAL     KDUCAT1OW. 

Tensive?  We  should  not  first  extol  sympathy,  and  then 
disdain  affectation ;  our  encomiums  frequently  produce 
the  faults  by  which  we  are  disgusted.  Sensibility  and 
sympathy,  when  they  have  proper  objects  and  full  em- 
ployment, do  not  look  for  applause  ;  they  are  sufficiently 
happy  in  their  own  enjoyments.  Those  who  have  at- 
tempted to  teach  children  must  have  observed,  that 
sympathy  is  immediately  connected  with  all  the  imita- 
tive arts  ;  the  nature  of  this  connexion,  more  especially 
in  poetry  and  painting,  has  been  pointed  out  with  inge- 
nuity and  eloquence  by  those*  whose  excellence  in 
these  arts  entitles  their  theories  to  our  prudent  attention. 
We  shall  not  attempt  to  repeat ;  we  refer  to  their  obser- 
vations. Sufficient  occupation  for  "sympathy  may  be 
found  by  cultivating  the  talents  of  young  people. 

Without  repeating  here  what  has  been  said  in  many 
other  places,  it  may  be  necessary  to  remind  all  who  are 
concerned  in  female  education,  that  peculiar  caution  is 
necessary  to  manage  female  sensibility :  to  make,  what 
rs  called  the  heart,  a  source  of  permanent  pleasure,  we 
must  cultivate  the  reasoning  powers  at  the  same  time 
that  we  repress  the  enthusiasm  of  fine  feeling.  Women, 
from  their  situation  and  duties  in  society,  are  called 
upon  rather  for  the  daily  exercise  of  quiet  domestic  vir- 
tues, than  for  those  splendid  acts  of  generosity,  or  those 
exaggerated  expressions  of  tenderness,  which  are  the 
characteristics  of  heroines  in  romance.  Sentimental 
authors,  who  paint  with  enchanting  colours  all  the 
graces  and  all  the  virtues  in  happy  union,  teach  us  to 
expect  that  this  union  should  be  indissoluble.  After- 
ward, from  the  natural  influence  of  association,  we  ex- 
pect in  real  life  to  meet  with  virtue  when  we  see  grace  ; 
and  we  are  disappointed,  almost  disgusted,  when  we 
find  virtue  unadorned.  This  false  association  has  a 
double  effect  upon  the  conduct  of  \vomen  ;  it  prepares 
them  to  be  pleased,  and  it  excites  them  to  endeavour  to 
please  by  adventitious  charms,  rather  than  by  those 
qualities  which  merit  esteem.  Women  who  have  been 
much  addicted  to  common  novel-reading,  are  always 
acting  in  imitation  of  some  Jemima,  or  Almeria,  who 
never  existed  .  and  they  perpetually  mistake  plain  Will- 
iam and  Thomas  for  "  My  Beverly  .'"  They  have  an- 

*  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's  Discourses.  Dr.  Darwin's  Critical  Inter 
iudes  in  the  Botanic  Garden,  a  d  his  chapter  on  Sympathy  and  Imi 
tation  in  Zoonomia. 


VANITY,    PRIDE,    AND    AMBITION.  225 

other  peculiar  misfortune  ;  they  require  continual  great 
emotions  to  keep  them  in  tolerable  humour  with  them- 
selves ;  they  must  have  tears  in  their  eyes,  or  they  are 
apprehensive  that  their  hearts  are  growing  hard.  They 
have  accustomed  themselves  to  such  violent  stimulus, 
that  they  cannot  endure  the  languor  to  which  they  are 
subject  in  the  intervals  of  delirium.  Pink  appears  pale 
to  the  eye  that  is  used  to  scarlet ;  and  common  food  is 
insipid  to  the  taste  which  has  been  vitiated  by  the  high 
seasonings  of  art. 

A  celebrated  French  actress,  in  the  wane  of  her 
charms,  and  who,  for  that  reason,  began  to  feel  weary 
of  the  world,  exclaimed,  while  she  was  recounting  what 
she  had  suffered  from  a  faithless  lover,  "  Ah  !  c'6toit  le 
bon  temps,  j'etois  bien  malheureuse  !"* 

The  happy  age  in  which  women  can,  with  any  grace 
or  effect,  •  be  romantically  wretched,  is,  even  with  the 
beautiful,  but  a  short  season  of  felicity.  The  sentimen- 
tal sorrows  of  any  female  mourner,  of  more  than  thirty 
years  standing,  command  but  little  sympathy  and  less 
admiration  ;  and  what  other  consolations  are  suited  to 
sentimental  sorrows  "\ 

Women  who  cultivate  their  reasoning  powers,  and 
who  acquire  tastes  for  science  and  literature,  find  suffi- 
cient variety  in  life,  and  do  not  require  the  stimulus  of 
dissipation  or  of  romance.  Their  sympathy  and  sensi- 
bility are  engrossed  by  proper  objects,  and  connected 
with  habits  of  useful  exertion ;  they  usually  feel  the 
affection  which  others  profess,  and  actually  enjoy  the 
happiness  which  others  describe. 


CHAPTER  XL 

ON    VANITY,    PRIDE,    AND    AMBITION. 

WE  shall  not  weary  the  reader  by  any  commonplace 
declamations  upon  these  moral  topics.  No  great  subt- 
lety of  distinction  is  requisite  to  mark  the  differences 
between  vanity  and  pride,  since  those  differences  have 

*  D'Alembert. 
K3 


1*26  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

been  pointed  out  by  every  moralist  who  has  hoped  to 
please  mankind  by  an  accurate  delineation  of  the  fail- 
ings of  human  nature.  Whatever  distinctions  exist,  or 
may  be  supposed  to  exist,  between  the  characters  in 
which  pride  or  vanity  predominates,  it  will  readily  be 
allowed  that  there  is  one  thing  in  which  they  both  agree 
— they  both  receive  pleasure  from  the  approbation  of 
others,  and  from  their  own.  We  are  disgusted  with  the 
vain  man,  when  he  intemperately  indulges  in  praise  of 
himself,  however  justly  he  may  be  entitled  to  that  praise, 
because  he  offends  against  those  manners  which  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  think  polite,  and  he  claims 
from  us  a  greater  portion  of  sympathy  th'an  we  can  pos- 
sibly afford  to  give  him.  We  are  not,  however,  pleased 
by  the  negligence  with  which  the  proud  man  treats  us  ; 
we  do  not  like  to  see  that  he  can  exist  in  independent 
happiness,  satisfied  with  a  cool  internal  sense  of  his  own 
merits ;  he  loses  our  sympathy,  because  he  does  not 
appear  to  value  it. 

If  we  could  give  our  pupils  exactly  the  character  we 
wish,  what  degrees  of  vanity  and  pride  should  we  desire 
them  to  have,  and  how  should  we  regulate  these  passions  ? 
Should  we  not  desire  that  their  ambition  to  excel  might 
be  sufficient  to  produce  the  greatest  possible  exertions, 
directed  to  the  best  possible  objects  ;  that  their  opinion 
of  themselves  should  be  strictly  just,  and  should  never 
be  expressed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  offend  against  pro- 
priety, or  so  us  to  forfeit  the  sympathy  of  mankind  ? 
As  to  the  degree  of  pleasure  which  they  should  feel 
from  their  secret  reflections  upon  their  own  meritorious 
conduct,  we  should  certainly  desire  this  to  be  as  lasting 
and  as  exquisite  as  possible.  A  considerable  portion 
of  the  happiness  of  life  arises  from  the  sense  of  self- 
approbation  ;  we  should,  therefore,  secure  this  gratifica- 
tion in  its  utmost  perfection.  We  must  observe,  that 
however  independent  the  proud  man  imagines  himself 
to  be  of  the  opinions  of  all  around  him,  he  must  form  his 
judgment  of  his  own  merits  from  some  standard  of  com- 
parison, by  some  laws  drawn  from  observation  of  what 
mankind  in  general,  or  those  whom  he  particularly  es- 
teems, think  wise  or  amiable.  He  must  begin  then  in 
the  same  manner  with  the  vain  man,  whom  he  despises, 
by  collecting  the  suffrages  of  others  ;  if  he  selects,  with 
perfect  wisdom,  the  opinions  which  are  most  just,  he 
forms  his  character  upon  excellent  principles  ;  and  the 


VANITY,    PRIDE,    AND    AMBITION,  227 

more  steadily  he  abides  by  his  first  views,  the  more  he 
commands  and  obtains  respect.  But  if,  unfortunately, 
he  makes  a  mistake  at  first,  his  obstinacy  in  error  is  not 
to  be  easily  corrected,  for  he  is  not  affected  by  the  gen- 
eral voice  of  disapprobation,  nor  by  the  partial  loss  of  the 
common  pleasures  of  sympathy.  The  vain  man,  on  the 
contrary,  is  in  danger,  let  him  form  his  first  notions  of 
right  and  wrong  ever  so  justly,  of  changing  them  when 
he  happens  to  be  in  society  with  any  persons  who  do 
not  agree  with  him  in  their  moral  opinions,  or  who  re- 
fuse him  that  applause  which  supports  his  own  feeble 
self-approbation.  We  must,  in  education,  endeavour  to 
guard  against  these  opposite  dangers  ;  we  must  enlighten 
the  understanding,  to  give  our  pupils  the  power  of  form- 
ing their  rules  of  conduct  rightly,  and  we  must  give  them 
sufficient  strength  of  mind  to  abide  by  the  principles 
which  they  have  formed.  When  we  first  praise  chil- 
dren, we  must  be  careful  to  associate  pleasure  with 
those  things  which  are  really  deserving  of  approbation. 
If  we  praise  them  for  beauty,  or  for  any  happy  expres- 
sions which  entertain  us,  but  which  entertain  us  merely 
as  the  sprightly  nonsense  of  childhood,  we  create  vanity 
in  the  minds  of  our  pupils ;  we  give  them  false  ideas 
of  merit ;  and,  if  we  excite  them  to  exertions,  they  are 
not  exertions  directed  to  any  valuable  objects.  Praise 
is  a  strong  stimulus  to  industry  if  it  be  properly  man- 
aged ;  but  if  we  give  it  in  too  large  and  lavish  quantities 
early  in  life,  we  shall  soon  find  that  it  loses  its  effect, 
and  yet  that  the  patient  languishes  for  want  of  the  ex- 
citation which  custom  has  rendered  almost  essential  to 
his  existence.  We  say  the  patient,  for  this  mental  lan- 
guor may  be  considered  entirely  as  a  disease.  For  its 
cure  see  the  second  volume  of  Zoonomia,  under  the  ar- 
ticle Vanity. 

Children  who  are  habituated  to  the  daily  and  hourly 
food  of  praise,  continually  require  this  sustenance  un- 
less they  are  attended  to  ;  but  we  may  gradually  break 
bad  habits.  It  is  said  that  some  animals  can  supply 
themselves  at  a  single  draught  with  what  will  quench 
their  thirst  for  many  days.  The  human  animal  may, 
perhaps,  by  education,  be  taught  similar  foresight 
and  abstinence  in  the  management  of  his  thirst  for 
flattery.  Young  people  who  live  with  persons  that 
seldom  bestow  praise,  do  not  expect  that  stimulus  ;  and 
they  are  content  if  they  discover  by  certain  signs,  either 


228  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

in  the  countenance,  manner,  or  tone  of  voice,  of  those 
whom  they  wish  to  please,  that  they  are  tolerably  well 
satisfied.  It  is  of  little  consequence  by  what  language 
approbation  is  conveyed,  whether  by  words,  or  looks,  or 
by  that  silence  which  speaks  with  s"o  much  eloquence  ; 
but  it  is  of  great  importance  that  our  pupils  should  set  a 
high  value  upon  the  expressions  of  our  approbation. 
They  will  value  it  in  proportion  to  their  esteem  and 
their  affection  for  us ;  we  include  in  the  word  esteem,  a 
belief  in  our  justice  and  in  our  discernment.  Expres- 
sions of  affection,  associated  with  praise,  not  only  in- 
crease the  pleasure,  but  they  alter  the  nature  of  that 
pleasure ;  and  if  they  gratify  vanity,  they  at  the  same 
time  excite  some  of  the  best  feelings  of  the  heart.  The 
selfishness  of  vanity  is  corrected  by  this  association ; 
and  the  two  pleasures  of  sympathy  and  self-compla- 
cency should  never,  when  we  can  avoid  it,  be  sepa- 
rated. 

Children  who  are  well  educated,  and  who  have  ac- 
quired an  habitual  desire  for  the  approbation  of  their 
friends,  may  continue  absolutely  indifferent  to  the  praise 
of  strangers,  or  of  common  acquaintance  ;  nor  is  it  prob- 
able that  this  indifference  should  suddenly  be  conquered, 
because  the  greatest  part  of  the  pleasure  of  praise  in 
their  mind  depends  upon  the  esteem  and  affection  which 
they  feel  for  the  persons  by  whom  it  is  bestowed.  In- 
stead of  desiring  that  our  pupils  should  entirely  repress, 
in  the  company  of  their  own  family,  the  pleasure  which 
they  feel  from  the  praise  that  is  given  to  them  by  their 
friends,  we  should  rather  indulge  them  in  this  natural 
expansion  of  mind ;  we  should  rather  permit  their  youth- 
ful vanity  to  display  itself  openly  to  those  whom  they 
most  love  and  esteem,  than  drive  them,  by  unreasonable 
severity,  and  a  cold  refusal  of  sympathy,  into  the  so- 
ciety of  less  rigid  observers.  Those  who  have  an  aver- 
sion to  vanity  will  not  easily  bear  with  its  uncultivated 
intemperance  of  tongue  ;  but  they  should  consider  that 
much  of  what  disgusts  them  is  owing  to  the  simplicity 
of  childhood,  which  must  be  allowed  time  to  learn  that 
respect  for  the  feelings  of  others  which  teaches  us  to 
restrain  our  own :  but  we  must  not  be  in  haste  to  re- 
strain, lest  we  teach  hypocrisy  instead  of  strength  of 
mind  or  real  humility.  If  we  expect  that  children 
should  excel,  and  should  not  know  that  they  excel,  we 
expect  impossibilities ;  we  expect,  at  the  same  time,  in- 


VANITY,    PRIDE,     AND    AMBITION.  229 

telligence  and  stupidity.  If  we  desire  that  they  should 
be  excited  by  praise,  and  that,  at  the  same  time,  they 
should  feel  no  pleasure  in  the  applause  which  they  have 
earned,  we  desire  things  that  are  incompatible.  If  we 
encourage  children  to  be  frank  and  sincere,  and  yet,  at 
the  same  time,  reprove  them  whenever  they  naturally 
express  their  opinions  of  themselves,  or  the  pleasurable 
feelings  of  self-approbation,  we  shall  counteract  our 
own  wishes.  Instead  of  hastily  blaming  children  for 
the  sincere  and  simple  expression  of  their  self-compla- 
cency, or  of  their  desire  for  the  approbation  of  others, 
we  should  gradually  point  out  to  them  the  truth — that 
those  who  refrain  from  that  display  of  their  own  per- 
fections which  we  call  vanity,  in  fact  are  well  repaid  for 
the  constraint  which  they  put  upon  themselves  by  the 
superior  degree  of  respect  and  sympathy  which  they 
obtain ;  that  vain  people  effectually  counteract  their  own 
wishes,  and  meet  with  contempt  instead  of  admiration. 
By  appealing  constantly,  when  we  praise,  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  pupils  themselves,  we  shall  at  once  teach 
them  the  habit  of  rejudging  flattery,  and  substitute,  by 
insensible  degrees,  patient,  steady  confidence  in  them- 
selves, for  the  wavering,  weak  impatience  of  vanity. 
In  proportion  as  any  one's  confidence  in  himself  in- 
creases, his  anxiety  for  the  applause  of  others  dimin- 
ishes :  people  are  very  seldom  vain  of  any  accomplish- 
ments in  which  they  obviously  excel,  but  they  frequently 
continue  to  be  vain  of  those  which  are  doubtful.  Where 
mankind  have  not  confirmed  their  own  judgment,  they 
are  restless,  and  continually  aim  either  at  convincing 
others  or  themselves  that  they  are  in  the  right.  Ho- 
garth, who  invented  a  new  and  original  manner  of  satir- 
ising the  follies  of  mankind,  was  not  vain  of  his  talent, 
but  was  extremely  vain  of  his  historical  paintings,  which 
were  indifferent  performances.  Men  of  acknowledged 
literary  talents  are  seldom  fond  of  amateurs ;  but  if  they 
are  but  half  satisfied  of  their  own  superiority,  they  col- 
lect the  tribute  of  applause  with  avidity,  and  without 
discrimination  or  delicacy.  Voltaire  has  been  reproached 
with  treating  strangers  rudely  who  went  to  Ferney  to 
see  and  admire  a  philosopher  as  a  prodigy.  Voltaire 
valued  his  time  more  than  he  did  this  vulgar  admiration ; 
his  visiters,  whose  understanding  had  not  gone  through 
exactly  the  same  process, — who  had  not,  probably,  been 
satisfied  with  public  applause,  and  who  set,  perhaps,  a 
20 


230  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

considerable  value  upon  their  own  praise,  could  not 
comprehend  this  appearance  of  indifference  to  admira- 
tion in  Voltaire,  especially  when  it  was  well  known  that 
he  was  not  insensible  of  fame.  He  was,  at  an  advanced 
age,  exquisitely  anxious  about  the  fate  of  one  of  his 
tragedies  ;  and  a  public  coronation  at  the  theatre  at 
Paris  had  power  to  inebriate  him  at  eighty-four.  Those 
who  have  exhausted  the  stimulus  of  wine  may  yet  be 
intoxicated  by  opium.  The  voice  of  numbers  appears  to 
be  sometimes  necessary  to  give  delight  to  those  who 
have  been  fatigued  with  the  praise  of  individuals :  but 
this  taste  for  acclamation  is  extremely  dangerous.  A 
multitude  of  good  judges  seldom  meet  together. 

By  a  slight  difference  in  their  manner  of  reasoning, 
two  men  of  abilities,  who  set  out  with  the  same  desire 
for  fame,  may  acquire  different  habits  of  pride  or  of  van- 
ity ;  the  one  may  value  the  number,  the  other  may  ap- 
preciate the  judgment  of  his  admirers.  There  is  some- 
thing not  only  more  wise,  but  more  elevated,  in  this 
latter  species  of  select  triumph  ;  the  noise  is  not  so 
great;  the  music  is  better.  "  If  I  listened  to  the  music 
of  praise,"  says  an  historian,  who  obviously  was  not  in- 
sensible to  its  charms,  "  I  was  more  seriously  satisfied 
with  -the  approbation  of  my  judges.  The  candour  of 
Dr.  Robertson  embraced  his  disciple.  A  letter  from  Mr. 
Hume  overpaid  the  labour  of  ten  years."*  Surely  no 
one  can  be  displeased  with  this  last  generous  expres- 
sion of  enthusiasm ;  we  are  not  so  well  satisfied  with 
JBuffon,  when  he  ostentatiously  displays  the  epistles  of  a 
prince  and  an  empress.f 

Perhaps,  by  pointing  out  at  proper  opportunities  the 
difference  in  our  feelings  with  respect  to  vulgar  and  re- 
fined vanity,  we  might  make  a  useful  impression  upon 
those  who  have  yet  their  habits  to  form.  The  conver- 
sion of  vanity  into  pride  is  not  so  difficult  a  process  as 
those,  who  have  not  analyzed  both,  might,  from  the 
striking  difference  of  their  appearance,  imagine.  By 
the  opposite  tendencies  of  education,  opposite  charac- 
ters from  the  same  original  dispositions  are  produced. 
Cicero,  had  he  been  early  taught  to  despise  the  applause 

*  Gibbon.  Memoirs  of  his  Life  and  Writings.— Perhaps  Gibbon 
had  this  excellent  line  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's  in  his  memory : 

"  And  pay  a  life  of  hardships  with  a  line." 
t  See  Peltier's  state  of  Paris  in  the  years  1795  and  1796. 


VANITY,    PRIDE,    AND    AMBITION.  231 

ot  the  multitude,  would  have  turned  away  like  the  proud 
philosopher,  who  asked  his  friends  what  absurdity  he 
had  uttered,  when  he  heard  the  populace  loud  in  accla- 
mations of  his  speech  ;  and  the  cynic  whose  vanity  was 
seen  through  the  holes  of  his  cloak,  might,  perhaps, 
hy  a  slight  difference  in  his  education,  have  been  ren- 
dered ambitious  of  the  Macedonian  purple. 

In  attempting  to  convert  vanity  into  pride,  we  must 
begin  by  exercising  the  vain  patient  in  forbearance  of 
present  pleasure  ;  it  is  not  enough  to  convince  his  un- 
derstanding that  the  advantages  of  proud  humility  are 
great ;  he  may  be  perfectly  sensible  of  this,  and  may 
yet  have  so  little  command  over  himself,  that  his  loqua- 
cious vanity  may  get  the  better,  from  hour  to  hour,  of 
his  better  judgment.  Habits  are  not  to  be  instantane- 
ously conquered  by  reason ;  if  we  do  not  keep  this  fact 
in  our  remembrance,  we  shall  be  frequently  disappointed 
in  education ;  and  we  shall,  perhaps,  end  by  thinking 
that  reason  can  do  nothing,  if  we  begin  by  thinking  that 
she  can  do  every  thing.  We  must  not  expect  that  a 
vain  child  should  suddenly  break  and  forget  all  his  past 
associations ;  but  we  may,  by  a  little  early  attention, 
prevent  much  of  the  trouble  of  curing,  or  converting, 
the  disease  of  vanity. 

When  children  first  begin  to  learn  accomplishments, 
or  to  apply  themselves  to  literature,  those  who  instruct 
are  apt  to  encourage  them  with  too  large  a  portion  of 
praise  :  the  smallest  quantity  of  stimulus  that  can  produce 
the  exertion  we  desire,  should  be  used ;  if  we  use  more,  we 
waste  our  power,  and  injure  our  pupil.  As  soon  as 
habit  has  made  any  exertion  familiar,  and  consequently 
easy,  we  may  withdraw  the  original  excitation,  and  the 
exertion  will  still  continue.  In  learning,  for  instance, 
a  new  language,  at  first,  while  the  pupil  is  in  the  midst 
of  the  difficulties  of  regular  and  irregular  verbs,  and 
when,  in  translation,  a  dictionary  is  wanted  at  every 
moment,  the  occupation  itself  cannot  be  very  agreea- 
ble ;  but  we  are  excited  by  the  hope  that  our  labour  will 
every  day  diminish,  and  that  we  shall  at  last  enjoy  the 
entertainment  of  reading  useful  and  agreeable  books. 
Children,  who  have  not  learned  by  experience  the  pleas- 
ures of  literature,  cannot  feel  this  hope  as  strongly  as 
we  do ;  we,  therefore,  excite  them  by  praise ;  but  by 
degrees  they  begin  to  feel  the  pleasure  of  success  and 
occupation ;  wher^these  are  felt,  we  may  and  ought  to 


232          PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

withdraw  the  unnecessary  excitements  of  praise.  If 
we  continue,  we  mislead  the  child's  mind ;  and,  while  we 
deprive  him  of  his  natural  reward,  we  give  him  a  facti- 
tious taste.  When  any  moral  habit  is  to  be  acquired, 
or  when  we  wish  that  our  pupil  should  cure  himself  of 
any  fault,  we  must  employ  at  first  strong  excitement, 
and  reward  with  warmth  and  eloquence  of  approbation  ; 
when  the  fault  is  conquered,  when  the  virtue  is  acquired, 
the  extraordinary  excitement  should  be  withdrawn,  and 
all  this  should  not  be  done  with  an  air  of  mystery  and 
artifice ;  the  child  should  know  all  that  we  do,  and  why 
we  do  it ;  the  sooner  he  learns  how  his  own  mind  is 
managed,  the  better — the  sooner  he  will  assist  in  his 
own  education. 

Everybody  must  have  observed,  that  languor  of  mind 
succeeds  to  the  intoxication  of  vanity  ;  if  we  can  avoid 
the  intoxication,  we  shall  avoid  the  languor.  Common 
sayings  often  imply  those  sensible  observations  which 
philosophers,  when  they  theorize  only,  express  in  other 
words.  We  frequently  hear  it  said  to  a  child,  "  Praise 
spoils  you ;  my  praise  did  you  harm ;  you  can't  bear 
praise  well ;  you  grow  conceited  ;  you  become  idle  ;  you 
are  good  for  nothing,  because  you  have  been  too  much 
flattered."  All  these  expressions  show  that  the  conse- 
quences of  over-stimulating  the  mind  by  praise  have 
been  vaguely  taken  notice  of  in  education  ;  but  no  gen- 
eral rules  have  been  deduced  from  these  observations. 
With  children  of  different  habits  and  temperaments,  the 
same  degree  of  excitement  acts  differently,  so  that  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  fix  upon  any  positive  quantity  fit 
for  all  dispositions — the  quantity  must  be  relative ;  but 
we  may,  perhaps,  fix  upon  a  criterion  by  which,  in  most 
cases,  the  proportion  may  be  ascertained.  The  golden 
rule,*  which  an  eminent  physician  has  given  to  the  med- 
ical world,  for  ascertaining  the  necessary  and  useful 
quantity  of  stimulus  for  weak  and  feverish  patients, 
may,  with  advantage,  be  applied  in  education.  When- 
ever praise  produces  the  intoxication  of  vanity,  it  is 
hurtful ;  whenever  the  appearances  of  vanity  diminish 
in  consequence  of  praise,  we  may  be  satisfied  that  it 
does  good,  that  it  increases  the  pupil's  confidence  in 
himself,  and  his  strength  of  mind.  We  repeat,  that  per- 
sons who  have  confidence  in  themselves  may  be  proud, 

*  See  Zoonorrr'a,  vol.  i.  p.99.  • 


VANITY,    PRIDE,    AND    AMBITION.  233 

but  are  never  vain  ;  that  vanity  cannot  support  herself 
without  the  concurring  flattery  of  others  ;  pride  is  sat- 
isfied with  his  own  approbation.  In  the  education  of 
children  who  are  more  inclined  to  pride  than  to  vanity, 
we  must  present  large  objects  to  the  understanding,  and 
large  motives  must  be  used  to  excite  voluntary  exer- 
tion. If  the  understanding  of  proud  people  be  not  early 
cultivated,  they  frequently  fix  upon  some  false  ideas  of 
honour  or  dignity,  to  which  they  are.  resolute  martyrs 
through  life.  Thus  the  high-born  Spaniards,  if  we  may 
be  allowed  to  reason  from  the  imperfect  history  of  na- 
tional character, — the  Spaniards,  who  associate  the  ideas 
of  dignity  and  indolence,  would  rather  submit  to  the  evils 
of  poverty  than  to  the  imaginary  disgrace  of  working 
for  their  bread.  Volney,  and  the  Baron  de  Tott,  give 
us  some  curious  instances  of  the  pride  of  the  Turks, 
which  prevents  them  from  being  taught  any  useful  arts 
by  foreigners.  To  show  how  early  associations  are 
formed  and  supported  by  pride,  we  need  but  recollect 
•  the  anecdote  of  the  child  mentioned  by  De  Tott.*  The 
Baron  de  Tott  bought  a  pretty  toy  for  a  present  for  a 
little  Turkish  friend,  but  the  child  was  too  proud  to  seem 
pleased  with  the  toy  ;  the  child's  grandfather  came  into 
the  room,  saw,  and  was  delighted  with  the  toy,  sat  down 
on  the  carpet,  and  played  with  it  until  he  broke  it.  We 
like  the  second  childhood  of  the  grandfather  better  than 
the  premature  old  age  of  the  grandson. 

The  self-command  which  the  fear  of  disgrace  ensures, 
can  produce  either  great  virtues  or  great  vices.  Re- 
venge and  generosity  are,  it  is  said,  to  be  found  in  their 
highest  state  among  nations  and  individuals  character- 
ized by  pride.  The  early  objects  which  are  associated 
with  the  idea  of  honour  in  the  mind,  are  of  great  conse- 
quence ;  but  it  is  yet  of  more  consequence  to  teach 
proud  minds  early  to  bend  to  the  power  of  reason,  or 
rather  to  glory  in  being  governed  by  reason.  They 
should  be  instructed,  that  the  only  possible  means  of 
maintaining  their  opinions  among  persons  of  sense,  is 
to  support  them  by  unanswerable  arguments.  They 
should  be  taught  that,  to  secure  respect,  they  must  de- 
serve it ;  and  their  self-denial  or  self-command,  should 
never  obtain  that  tacit  admiration  which  they  most  value, 
except  where  it  is  exerted  for  useful  and  rational  pur- " 

*  See  De  Tott's  Memoirs,  p.  138,  a  note. 


234  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

poses.  The  constant  custom  of  appealing  in  the  last 
resort,  to  their  own  judgment,  which  distinguishes  the 
proud  from  the  vain,  makes  it  peculiarly  necessary  that 
the  judgment,  to  which  so  much  is  trusted,  should  be 
highly  cultivated.  A  vain  man  may  be  tolerably  well 
conducted  in  life  by  a  sensible  friend  ;  a  proud  man 
ought  to  be  able  to  conduct  himself  perfectly  well,  be- 
cause he  will  not  accept  of  any  assistance.  It  seems 
that  some  proud  people  confine  their  benevolent  virtues 
within  a  smaller  sphere  than  others ;  they  value  only 
their  own  relations,  their  friends,  their  country,  or  what- 
ever is  connected  with  themselves.  This  species  of 
pride  may  be  corrected  by  the  same  means  which  are 
used  to  increase  sympathy.*  Those  who,  either  from 
temperament,  example,  or  accidental  circumstances, 
have  acquired  the  habit  of  repressing  and  commanding 
their  emotions,  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from  the 
selfish  and  insensible.  In  the  present  times,  when  the 
affectation  of  sensibility  is  to  be  dreaded,  we  should 
rather  encourage  that  species  of  pride  which  disdains 
to  display  the  affections  of  the  heart.  **  You  Romans 
triumph  over  your  tears,  and  call  it  virtue ;  I  triumph 
in  my  tears,"  says  Caractacus :  his  tears  were  respect- 
able, but  in  general,  the  Roman  triumph  would  command 
the  most  sympathy. 

Some  people  attribute  to  pride  all  expressions  of  con- 
fidence in  one's  self:  these  maybe  offensive  to  common 
society,  but  they  are  sometimes  powerful  over  the  hu- 
man mind,  and  where  they  are  genuine,  mark  somewhat 
superior  in  character.  Much  of  the  effect  of  Lord  Chat- 
ham's eloquence,  much  of  his  transcendent  influence  in 
public,  must  be  attributed  to  the  confidence  which  he 
showed  in  his  own  superiority.  "  I  trample  upon  im- 
possibilities!"  was  an  exclamation  which  no  inferior 
mind  would  dare  to  make.  Would  the  House  of  Com- 
mons have  permitted  any  one  but  Lord  Chatham  to  an- 
swer an  oration  by,  "  Tell  me,  gentle  shepherd,  where  ?" 
The  danger  of  failing,  the  hazard  that  he  runs  of  becom- 
ing ridiculous  who  verges  upon  the  moral  sublime,  is 
taken  into  our  account  when  we  judge  of  the  action, 
and  we  pay  involuntary  tribute  to  courage  and  success : 
but  how  miserable  is  the  fate  of  the  man  who  mistakes 
'his  own  powers,  and  upon  trial  is  unable  to  support  his 

*  See  Sympathy. 


VANITY,    PRIDE,    AND    AMBITION.  235 

assumed  superiority  ;  mankind  revenge  themselves 
without  mercy  upon  his  ridiculous  pride,  eager  to  teach 
him  the  difference  between  insolence  and  magnanimity. 
Young  people  inclined  to  overrate  their  own  talents,  or 
to  undervalue  the  abilities  of  others,  should  frequently 
have  instances  given  to  them  from  real  life,  of  the  mor- 
tifications and  disgrace  to  which  imprudent  boasters 
expose  themselves.  Where  they  are  able  to  demon- 
strate their  own  abilities,  they  run  no  risk  in  speaking 
with  decent  confidence  ;  but  where  their  success  de- 
pends, in  any  degree,  either  upon  fortune  or  ojpjnion, 
they  should  never  run  the  hazard  of  presumption.  Mod- 
esty prepossesses  mankind  in  favour  of  its  possessor, 
and  has  the  advantage  of  being  both  graceful  and  safe : 
this  was  perfectly  understood  by  the  crafty  Ulysses, 
who  neither  raised  his  eyes  nor  stretched  his  sceptred 
hand  "  when  he  first  rose  to  speak."  We  do  not,  how- 
ever, recommend  this  artificial  modesty ;  its  trick  is  soon 
discovered,  and  its  sameness  of  dissimulation  presently 
disgusts.  Prudence  should  prevent  young  people  from 
hazardous  boasting;  and  good-nature  and  good  sense, 
which  constitute  real  politeness,  will  restrain  them  from 
obtruding  their  merits  to  the  mortification  of  their  com- 
panions :  but  we  do  not  expect  from  them  total  igno- 
rance of  their  own  comparative  merit.  The  affectation 
of  humility,  when  carried  to  the  extreme,  to  which  all 
affectation  is  liable  to  be  carried,  appears  full  as  ridicu- 
lous, as  troublesome,  and  as  offensive  as  any  of  the  graces 
of  vanity  or  the  airs  of  pride.  Young  people  are  cured 
of  presumption  by  mixing  with  society,  but  they  are  not 
so  easily  cured  of  any  species  of  affectation. 

In  the  chapter  on  female  accomplishments,  we  have 
endeavoured  to  point  out,  that  the  enlargement  of  un- 
derstanding in  the  fair  sex  which  must  result  from  their 
increasing  knowledge,  will  necessarily  correct  the  femi- 
nine foibles  of  vanity  and  affectation. 

Strong,  prophetic,  eloquent  praise,  like  that  which 
the  great  Lord  Chatham  bestowed  on  his  son,  would 
rather  inspire,  in  a  generous  soul,  noble  emulation,  than 
paltry  vanity.  "  On  this  boy,"  said  he,  laying  his  hand 
upon  his  son's  head,  "  descends  my  mantle,  with  a 
double  portion  of  my  spirit !"  Philip's  praise  of  his  son 
Alexander,  when  the  boy  rode  the  unmanageable  horse.* 

*  See  Plutarch. 


236  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION 

is  another  instance  of  the  kind  of  praise  capable  of 
exciting  ambition. 

As  to  ambition,  we  must  decide  what  species  of  am- 
bition we  mean,  before  we  can  determine  whether  it 
ought  to  be  encouraged  or  repressed  ;  whether  it  should 
be  classed  among  virtues  or  vices;  that  is  to  say, 
whether  it  adds  to  the  happiness  or  misery  of  human 
creatures.  "  The  inordinate  desire  of  fame,"  which 
often  destroys  the  lives  of  millions  when  it  is  con- 
nected with  ideas  of  military  enthusiasm,  is  justly 
classed  among  the  "  diseases  of  volition :"  for  its  descrip- 
tion and  cure  we  refer  to  Zoonomia,  vol.  ii.  Achilles 
will  there  appear  to  his  admirers,  perhaps,  in  a  new  light. 

The  ambition  to  rise  in  the  world  usually  implies  a 
mean,  sordid  desire  of  riches,  or  what  are  called  hon- 
ours, to  be  obtained  by  the  common  arts  of  political 
intrigue,  by  cabal  to  win  popular  favour,  or  by  address 
to  conciliate  the  patronage  of  the  great.  The  expe- 
rience of  those  who  have  been  governed  during  their 
lives  by  this  passion,  if  passion  it  may  be  called,  does 
not  show  that  it  can  confer  much  happiness,  either  in 
the  pursuit  or  attainment  of  its  objects.  See  Bubb 
Doddington's  Diary,  a  most  useful  book;  a  journal  of 
the  petty  anxieties,  and  constant  dependance,  to  which 
an  ambitious  courtier  is  necessarily  subjected.  See 
also  Mirabeau's  "  Secret  History  of  the  Court  of  Ber- 
lin," for  a  picture  of  a  man  of  great  abilities  degraded 
by  the  same  species  of  low,  unprincipled  competition. 
"We  may  find  in  these  books,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  examples 
which  will  strike  young  and  generous  minds,  and  which 
may  inspire  them  with  contempt  for  the  objects  and  the 
means  of  vulgar  ambition.  There  is  a  more  noble  am- 
bition, by  which  the  enthusiastic  youth,  perfect  in  the 
theory  of  all  the  virtues,  and  warm  with  yet  unextin- 
guished  benevolence,  is  apt  to  be  seized ;  his  heart 
beats  with  the  hope  of  immortalizing  himself  by  noble 
actions ;  he  forms  extensive  plans  for  the  improvement 
and  the  happiness  of  his  fellow-creatures ;  he  feels  the 
want  of  power  to  carry  these  into  effect ;  power  be- 
comes the  object  of  his  wishes.  In  the  pursuit,  in  the 
attainment  of  this  object,  how  are  his  feelings  changed  ! 
M.  Necker,  in  the  preface  to  his  work  on  French 
finance,*  paints,  with  much  eloquence,  and  with  an  ap- 

*  Necker  sur  1' Administration  des  Finances  de  la  France,  vol.  i.  p.  98 


VANITY,     PHIDE,    AND    AMBITION.  237 

pearancu  of  perfect  truth,  the  feelings  of  a  man  of  virtue 
and  genius,  before  and  after  the  attainment  of  political 
power.  The  moment  when  a  minister  takes  possession 
of  his  place,  surrounded  by  crowds  and  congratulations, 
is  well  described;  and  the  succeeding  moment,  when 
clerks  with  immense  portfolios  enter,  is  a  striking  con- 
trast. Examples  from  romance  can  never  have  such  a 
powerful  effect  upon  the  mind,  as  those  which  are  taken 
from  real  life  ;  but  in  proportion  to -the  just  and  lively 
representation  of  situations  and  passions  resembling 
reality,  fictions  may  convey  useful  moral  lessons.  In 
the  Cyropeedia  there  is  an  admirable  description  of  the 
day  spent  by  the  victorious  Cyrus,  giving  audience  to 
the  unmanageable  multitude,  after  the  taking  of  Babylon 
had  accomplished  the  fulness  of  his  ambition.* 

It  has  been  observed,  that  these  examples  of  the  in- 
sufficiency of  the  objects  of  ambition  to  happiness,  sel- 
dom make  any  lasting  impression  upon  the  minds  of  the 
ambitious.  This  may  arise  from  two  causes  ;  from  the 
reasoning  faculty's  not  having  been  sufficiently  culti- 
vated, or  from  the  habits  of  ambition  being  formed  be- 
fore proper  examples  are  presented  to  the  judgment  for 
comparison.  Some  ambitious  people,  when  they  reason 
coolly,  feel  and  acknowledge  the  folly  of  their  pursuits  ; 
but  still,  from  the  force  of  habit,  they  act  immediately 
in  obedience  to  the  motives  which  they  condemn : 
others,  who  have  never  been  accustomed  to  reason 
firmly,  believe  themselves  to  be  in  the  right  in  the 
choice  of  their  objects  ;  and  they  cannot  comprehend 
the  arguments  which  are  used  by  those  who  have  not 
the  same  way  of  thinking  as  themselves.  If  we  fairly 
place  facts  before  young  people  who  have  been  ha- 
bituated to  reason,  and  who  have  not  yet  been  inspired 
with  the  passion  or  enslaved  by  the  habits  of  vulgar 
ambition,  it  is  probable  that  they  will  not  be  easily 
effaced  from  the  memory,  and  that  they  will  influence 
the  conduct  through  life. 

It  sometimes  happens  to  men  of  a  sound  understand- 
ing and  a  philosophic  turn  of  mind,  that  their  ambition 
decreases  with  their  experience.  They  begin  with 
some  ardour,  perhaps,  an  ambitious  pursuit ;  but  by  de- 
grees they  find  the  pleasure  of  the  occupation  sufficient 
without  the  fame,  which  was  their  original  object.  This 

*  Cyropaedia,  vol.  ii.  page  303 


238  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

is  the  same  process  which  we  have  observed  in  the 
minds  of  children  with  respect  to  the  pleasures  of  litera- 
ture, and  the  taste  for  sugarplums. 

Happy  the  child  who  can  be  taught  to  improve  him- 
self without  the  stimulus  of  sweetmeats !  Happy  the 
man  who  can  preserve  activity  without  the  excitements 
of  ambition ! 


CHAPTER  XII. 

BOOKS. 

THE  first  books  which  are  now  usually  put  into  the 
hands  of  a  child,  are  Mrs.  Barbauld's  Lessons :  they  are 
by  far  the  best  books  of  the  kind  that  have  ever  ap- 
peared ;  those  only  who  know  the  difficulty  and  the  im- 
portance of  such  compositions  in  education,  can  sincerely 
rejoice,  that  the  admirable  talents  of  such  a  writer  have 
been  employed  in  such  a  work.  We  shall  not  apologize 
for  offering  a  few  remarks  on  some  passages  in  these 
little  books,  because  we  are  convinced  that  we  shall 
not  offend. 

Lessons  for  Children  from  three  to  four  years  old, 
should,  we  think,  have  been  lessons  for  children  from 
four  to  five  years  old  ;  few  read,  or  ought  to  read,  before 
that  age. 

"  Charles  shall  have  a  pretty  new  lesson." 

In  this  sentence  the  words  pretty  and  new  are  asso- 
ciated ;  but  they  represent  ideas  which  ought  to  be  kept 
separate  in  the  mind  of  a  child.  The  love  of  novelty  is 
cherished  in  the  minds  of  children  by  the  common  ex- 
pressions that  we  use  to  engage  them  to  do  what  we 
desire.  "  You  shall  have  a  new  whip,  a  new  hat,"  are 
improper  modes  of  expression  to  a  child.  We  have 
seen  a  boy  who  had  literally  twenty  new  whips  in  one 
year,  and  we  were  present  when  his  father,  to  comfort 
him  when  he  was  in  pain,  went  out  to  buy  him  a  new 
whip,  though  he  had  two  or  three  scattered  about  the 
room. 

The  description,  in  the  first  part  of  Mrs.  Barbauld's 
Lessons,  of  the  naughty  boy  who  tormented  the  robin, 


BOOKS.  239 

and  who  was  afterward  supposed  to  be  eaten  by  bears, 
is  more  objectionable  than  any  in  the  book  :  the  idea 
of  killing  is  in  itself  very  complex,  and,  if  explained, 
serves  only  to  excite  terror ;  and  how  can  a  child  be 
made  to  comprehend  why  a  cat  should  catch  mice  and 
not  kill  birds  ;  or  why  should  this  species  of  honesty  be 
expected  from  an  animal  of  prey  ? 

"  I  want  my  dinner." 

Does  Charles  take  it  for  granted,  that  what  he  eats  is 
his  own,  and  that  he  must  have  his  dinner  1  These  and 
similar  expressions  are  words  of  course  ;  but  young 
children  should  not  be  allowed  to  use  them  :  if  they  are 
permitted  to  assume  the  tone  of  command,  the  feelings 
of  impatience  and  ill-temper  quickly  follow,  and  children 
become  the  little  tyrants  of  a  family.  Property  is  a 
word  of  which  young  people  have  general  ideas,  and 
they  may,  with  very  little  trouble,  be  prevented  from 
claiming  things  to  which  they  have  no  right.  Mrs. 
Barbauld  has  judiciously  chosen  to  introduce  a  little 
boy's  daily  history  in  these  books ;  all  children  are  ex- 
tremely interested  for  Charles,  and  they  are  very  apt  to 
expect,  that  every  thing  which  happens  to  him  is  to 
happen  to  them  ;  and  they  believe  that  every  thing  he 
does  is  right ;  therefore,  his  biographer  should,  in 
another  edition,  revise  any  of  his  expressions  which 
may  mislead  the  future  tribe  of  his  little  imitators. 

"  Maid,  come  and  dress  Charles." 

After  what  we  have  already  said  with  respect  to  ser- 
vants, we  need  only  observe,  that  this  sentence  for 
Charles  should  not  be  read  by  a  child;  and  that  in 
which  the  maid  is  said  to  bring  home  a  gun,  &c.,  it  is 
easy  to  strike  a  pencil  line  across.  All  the  passages 
which  might  have  been  advantageously  omitted  in  these 
excellent  little  books,  have  been  carefully  obliterated 
before  they  were  put  into  the  hands  of  children,  by  a 
mother  who  knew  the  danger  of  early  false  associ- 
ations. 

"  Little  boys  don't  eat  butter." 

"  Nobody  wears  a  hat  in  the  house." 

This  is  a  very  common  method  of  speaking,  but  it 
certainly  is  not  proper  towards  children.  Affirmative 
sentences  should  always  express  real  facts.  Charles 
must  know  that  some  little  boys  do  eat  butter ;  and  that 
some  people  wear  their  hats  in  their  houses.  This 
mode  of  expression,  "  Nobody  does  that !" — "  Every* 


240  PRACTICAL     KJHJCATION. 

body  does  this !"  lays  the  foundation  for  prejudice  in 
the 'mind.  This  is  the  language  of  fashion,  which, 
more  than  conscience,  makes  cowards  of  us  all. 

"  I  want  some  wine." 

Would  it  not  be  better  to  tell  Charles,  in  reply  to  this 
speech,  that  wine  is  not  good  for  him,  than  to  say, 
"  Wine  for  little  boys !  I  never  heard  of  such  a  thing!" 
If  Charles  were  to  be  ill,  and  it  should  be  necessary  to 
give  him  wine  ;  or  were  he  to  see  another  child  drink  it, 
he  would  lose  confidence  in  what  was  said  to  him.  We 
should  be  very  careful  of  our  words,  if  we  expect  our 
pupils  to  have  confidence  in  us ;  and  if  they  have  not, 
we  need  not  attempt  to  educate  them. 

"  The  moon  shines  at  night,  when  the  sun  has  gone 
to  bed."  . 

"  When  the  sun  is  out  of  sight  would  be  more  correct, 
though  not  so  pleasing,  perhaps,  to  the  young  reader. 
It  is  very  proper  to  teach  a  child,  that  when  the  sun  dis- 
appears, when  the  sun  is  below  the  horizon,  it  is  the 
time  when  most  animals  go  to  rest ;  but  we  should  not 
do  this  by  giving  so  false  an  idea,  as  that  the  sun  is  gone 
to  bed.  Every  thing  relative  to  the  system  of  the  uni- 
verse is  above  the  comprehension  of  a  child ;  we  should, 
therefore,  be  careful  to  prevent  his  forming  erroneous 
opinions.  We  should  wait  for  a  riper  period  of  his  un- 
derstanding before  we  attempt  positive  instruction  upon 
abstract  subjects. 

The  enumeration  of  the  months  in  the  year,  the  days 
in  the  week,  of  metals,  &c.,  forms  excellent  lessons  for  a 
child  who  is  just  beginning  to  learn  to  read.  The  clas- 
sification of  animals  into  quadrupeds,  bipeds,  &c.,  is 
another  useful  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  children 
should  be  taught  to  generalize  their  ideas.  The  pathetic 
description  of  the  poor  timid  hare  running  from  the  hunt- 
ers, will  leave  an  impression  upon  the  young  and  humane 
heart,  which  may,  perhaps,  save  the  life  of  many  a  hare. 
The  poetic  beauty  and  eloquent  simplicity  of  many  of 
Mrs.  Barbauld's  Lessons,  cultivate  the  imagination  of 
children  and  their  taste,  in  the  best  possible  manner. 

The  description  of  the  white  swan,  with  her  long 
arched  neck,  "winning  her  easy  way"  through  the 
waters,  is  beautiful ;  so  is  that  of- the  nightingale  singing 
upon  her  lone  bush  by  moonlight.  Poetic  descriptions 
of  real  objects  are  well  suited  to  children ;  apostrophe 
and  personification  they  understand ;  but  all  allegoric 


BOOKS.  24 1 

poetry  is  difficult  to  manage  for  them,  because  they  mis- 
take the  poetic  attributes  for  reality,  and  they  acquire 
false  and  confused  ideas.  With  regret,  children  close 
Mrs.  Barbauld's  little  books,  and  parents  become  yet 
more  sensible  of  their  value,  when  they  perceive  that 
none  can  be  found  immediately  to  supply  their  place,  or 
to  continue  the  course  of  agreeable  ideas  which  they 
have  raised  in  the  young  pupil's  imagination. 

"Evenings  at  Home"  do  not  immediately  join  to 
Lessons  for  Children  from  three  to  four  years  old ;  and 
we  know  not  where  to  find  any  books  to  fill  the  interval 
properly.  The  popular  character  of  any  book  is  easily 
learned,  and  its  general  merit  easily  ascertained;  this 
may  satisfy  careless,  indolent  tutors,  but  a  more  minute 
investigation  is  necessary  to  parents  who  are  anxious 
for  the  happiness  of  their  family,  or  desirous  to  improve 
the  art  of  education.  Such  parents  will  feel  it  to  be 
their  duty  to  look  over  every  page  of  a  book  before  it  is 
trusted  to  their  children ;  it  is  an  arduous  task,  but  none 
can  be  too  arduous  for  the  enlightened  energy  of  parental 
affection.  We  are  acquainted  with  the  mother  of  a 
family,  who  has  never  trusted  any  book  to  her  children 
without  having  first  examined  it  herself  with  the  most 
scrupulous  attention  ;  her  care  has  been  repaid  with  that 
success  in  education  which  such  care  can  alone  ensure. 
We  have  several  books  before  us  marked  by  her  pencil, 
and  volumes  which,  having  undergone  some  necessary 
operations  by  her  scissors,  would,  in  their  mutilated 
state,  shock  the  sensibility  of  a  nice  librarian.  But 
shall  the  education  of  a  family  be  sacrificed  to  the 
beauty  of  a  page,  or  even  to  the  binding  of  a  book? 
Few  books  can  safely  be  given  to  children  without  the 
previous  use  of  the  pen,  the  pencil,  and  the  scissors. 
In  the  books  which  we  have  before  «&,  in  their  corrected  • 
state,  we  see  somelwiies  a  few  words  blotted  out ;  some-  ' 
times  half  a  page^Sometimes11  many  pages  are  cut  out. 
In  turning  over  the  leaves  of  "The  Children's  Friend," 
we  perceive  that  the  different  ages  at  which  different 
stories  should  be  read,  have  been  marked ;  and  we  were 
surprised  to  meet  with  some  stories  marked  for  six 
years  old  and  some  for  sixteen,  in  the  same  volume. 
We  see  that  different  stories  have  been  marked  with  the 
initials  of  different  names,  by  this  cautious  mother,  who 
considered  the  temper  and  habits  of  her  children,  as 
well  as  their  ages. 

21 


242  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

As  far  as  these  notes  refer  peculiarly  to  her  own 
family,  they  cannot  be  of  use  to  the  public ;  but  the 
principles  which  governed  a  judicious  parent  in  her 
selection,  must  be  capable  of  universal  application. 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  first  principle,  that  we 
should  preserve  children  from  the  knowledge  of  any 
vice  or  any  folly,  of  which  the  idea  has  never  yet 
entered  their  minds,  and  which  they  are  not  necessarily 
disposed  to  learn  by  early  example.  Children  who  have 
never  lived  with  servants,  who  have  never  associated 
with  ill-educated  companions  of  their  own  age,  and 
who,  in  their  own  family,  have  heard  nothing  but  good 
conversation,  and  seen  none  but  good  examples,  will,  in 
their  language,  their  manners,  and  their  whole  dispo- 
sition, be  not  only  free  from  many  of  the  faults  common 
among  children,  but  they  will  absolutely  have  no  idea 
that  there  are  such  faults.  The  language  of  children 
who  have  heard  no  language  but  what  is  good,  must  be 
correct.  On  the  contrary,  children  who  hear  a  mixture 
of  low  and  high  vulgarity  before  their  own  habits  are 
fixed,  must,  whenever  they  speak,  continually  blunder ; 
they  have  no  rule  to  guide  their  judgment  in  their  se- 
lection from  the  variety  of  dialects  which  they  hear ; 
probably  they  may  often  be  reproved  for  their  mistakes, 
but  these  reproofs  will  be  of  no  avail  while  the  pupils 
continue  to  be  puzzled  between  the  example  of  the 
nursery  and  of  the  drawing-room.  It  will  cost  much 
time  and  pains  to  correct  these  defects,  which  might 
have  been  with  little  difficulty  prevented.  It  is  the 
same  with  other  bad  habits.  Falsehood,  caprice,  dis- 
honesty, obstinacy,  revenge,  and  all  the  train  of  vices 
which  are  the  consequences  of  mistaken  or  neglected 
education,  which  are  learned  by  bad  example,  and  which 
are  not  inspired  by  nature,  need  scarcely  be  known  to 
children  whose  minds  have  from  their  infancy  been 
happily  regulated.  Such  children  should  sedulously  be 
kept  from  contagion.  No  books  should  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  this  happy  class  of  children,  but  such  as  pre- 
sent the  best  models  of  virtue :  there  is  no  occasion  to 
shock  them  with  caricatures  of  vice.  Such  caricatures 
they  will  not  even  understand  to  be  well  drawn,  because 
they  are  unacquainted  with  any  thing  like  the  originals. 
Examples  to  deter  them  from  faults  to  which  they  have 
no  propensity  must  be  useless,  and  may  be  dangerous. 
For  the  same  reason  that  a  book  written  in  bad  language 


BOOKS.  243 

should  never  be  put  into  the  hands  of  a  child  who  speaks 
correctly  ;  a  book,  exhibiting  instances  of  vice,  should 
never  be  given  to  a  child  who  thinks  and  acts  correctly. 
The  love  of  novelty  and  of  imitation  is  so  strong  in 
children,  that  even  for  the  pleasure  of  imitating  charac- 
ters described  in  a  book,  or  actions  which  strike  them 
as  singular,  they  often  commit  real  faults. 

To  this  danger  of  catching  faults  by  sympathy,  chil- 
dren of  the  greatest  simplicity  are,  perhaps,  the  most 
liable,  because  they  least  understand  the  nature  and 
consequences  of  the  actions  which  they  imitate. 

During  the  age  of  imitation,  children  should  not  be 
exposed  to  the  influence  of  any  bad  examples  until  their 
habits  are  formed,  and  until  they  have  not  only  the 
sense  to  choose,  but  the  fortitude  to  abide  by,  their  own 
choice.  It  may  be  said,  that  "  children  must  know  that 
vice  exists ;  that,  even  among  their  own  companions, 
there  are  some  who  have  bad  dispositions ;  they  cannot 
mix  even  in  the  society  of  children,  without  seeing  ex- 
amples which  they  ought  to  be  prepared  to  avoid." 

These  remarks  are  just  with  regard  to  pupils  who 
are  intended  for  a  public  school,  and  no  great  nicety  in 
the  selection  of  their  books  is  necessary ;  but  we  are 
now  speaking  of  children  who  are  to  be  brought  up  in  a 
private  family.  Why  should  they  be  prepared  to  mix 
in  the  society  of  children  who  have  bad  habits  or  bad 
dispositions  '\  Children  should  not  be  educated  for  the 
society  of  children  ;  nor  should  they  live  in  that  society 
during  their  education.  We  must  not  expect  from  them 
premature  prudence,  and  all  the  social  Virtues,  before 
we  have  taken  any  measures  to  produce  these  virtues, 
or  this  tardy  prudence.  In  private  education,  there  is 
little  chance  that  one  error  should  balance  another ;  the 
experience  of  the  pupil  is  much  confined ;  the  examples 
which  he  sees  are  not  so  numerous  and  various  as  to 
counteract  each  other.  Nothing,  therefore,  must  be 
expected  from  the  counteracting  influence  of  opposing 
causes ;  nothing  should  be  trusted  to  chance.  Experi- 
ence must  preserve  one  uniform  tenor ;  and  examples 
must  be  selected  with  circumspection.  The  less  chil- 
dren associate  with  companions  of  their  own  age,  the 
less  they  know  of  the  world  ;  the  stronger  their  taste  for 
literature  ;  the  more  forcible  will  be  the  impression  that 
will  be  made  upon  them  by  the  pictures  of  life,  and  the 
characters  and  sentiments  which  they  meet  with  in 
L2 


244  PUACTIOAL     KDUCATION. 

books.  Books  for  such  children  ought  to  be  sifted  by 
an  academy*  of  enlightened  parents. 

Without  particular  examples,  the  most  obvious  truths 
are  not  brought  home  to  our  business.  We  shall  select 
a  few  examples  from  a  work  of  high  and  deserved  rep- 
utation, from  a  work  which  we  much  admire,  "  Ber- 
quin's  Children's  Friend."  We  do  not  mean  to  criticise 
this  work  as  a  literary  production  ;  but  simply  to  point 
out  to  parents,  that,  even  in  the  best  books  for  children, 
much  must  still  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  preceptor ; 
much  in  the  choice  of  stories,  and  particular  passages 
suited  to  different  pupils. 

In  "  The  Children's  Friend,"  there  are  several  stories 
well  adapted  to  one  class  of  children,  but  entirely  unfit 
for  another.  In  the  story  called  the  Hobgoblin,  Antonia, 
a  little  girl,  "  who  has  been  told  a  hundred  foolish  stories 
by  her  maid,  particularly  one  about  a  black-faced  gob- 
lin," is  represented  as  making  a  lamentable  outcry  at 
the  sight  of  a  chimney-sweeper ;  first  she  runs  for 
refuge  to  the  kitchen,  the  last  place  to  which  she  should 
run ;  then  to  the  pantryj  thence  she  jumps  out  of  the 
window,  "  half  dead  with  terror,"  and,  in  the  elegant 
language  of  the  translator,  almost  splits  her  throat  with 
crying  out  Help !  Help  ! — In  a  few  minutes  she  discovers 
her  error,  is  heartily  ashamed,  and  "  ever  afterward 
Antonia  was  the  first  to  laugh  at  silly  stories,  told  by 
silly  people,  of  hobgoblins  and  the  like,  to  frighten 
her." 

For  children  who  have  had  the  misfortune  to  hear 
the  hundred  foolish  stories  of  a  foolish  maid,  this 
apparition  of  the  chimney-sweeper  is  well  managed ; 
though,  perhaps,  ridicule  might  not  effect  so  sudden  a 
cure  in  all  cases  as  it  did  in  that  of  Antonia.  By  chil- 
dren who  have  not  acquired  terrors  of  the  black-faced 
goblin,  and  who  have  not  the  habit  of  frequenting  the 
kitchen  and  the  pantry,  this  story  should  never  be  read. 

"  The  little  miss  deceived  by  her  maid,"  who  takes 
her  mamma's  keys  out  of  her  drawers,  and  steals  sugar 
and  tea  for  her  "maid,  that  she  may  have  the  pleasure 
of  playing  with  a  cousin  whom  her  mother  had  for- 
bidden her  to  see,  is  not  an  example  that  need  be  intro- 
duced into  any  well-regulated  family.  The  picture  of 
Amelia's  misery  is  drawn  by  the  hand  of  a  master. 

*  See  Academie  della  Crusca. 


BOOKS.      .  245 

Terror  and  pity,  we  are  told  by  the  tragic  poets,  purify 
the  mind  ;  but  there  are  minds  that  do  not  require  this 
species  of  purification.  Powerful  antidotes  are  neces- 
sary to  combat  powerful  poisons ;  but  where  no  poison 
has  been  imbibed,  are  not  antidotes  more  dangerous 
than  useful  1 

The  stories  called  "  The  Little  Gamblers,  Blind  Man's 
Buff,  and  Honesty  the  best  Policy,"  are  stories  which 
may  do  a  great  deal  of  good  to  bad  children,  but  they 
should  never  be  given  to  those  of  another  description. 
The  young  gentlemen  who  cheat  at  cards,  and  who 
pocket  silver  fish,  should  have  no  admittance  anywhere. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  put  children  upon  their  guard 
against  associates  whom  they  are  not  likely  to  meet ; 
nor  need  we  introduce  The  Vulgar  and  Mischievous 
Schoolboy  to  any  but  schoolboys.  Martin,  who  throws 
squibs  at  people  in  the  street,  who  fastens  rabbits' 
tails  behind  their  backs,  who  fishes  for  their  wigs, 
who  sticks  up  pins  in  his  friends'  chairs,  who  carries  a 
hideous  mask  in  his  pocket  to  frighten  little  children, 
and  who  is  himself  frightened  into  repentance  by  a 
spectre  with  a  speaking  trumpet,  is  a  very  objectionable, 
though  an  excellent  dramatic  character.  The  part  of 
the  spectre  is  played  by  the  groom  ;  this  is  ill-con- 
trived in  a  drama  for  children ;  grooms  should  have 
nothing  to  do  with  their  entertainments  ;  and  Caesar, 
who  is  represented  as  a  pleasing  character,  should  not 
be  supposed  to  make  the  postillion  a  party  in  his  in- 
ventions. 

'*  A  good  heart  compensates  for  many  indiscretions"  is 
a  dangerous  title  for  a  play  for  young  people ;  because 
many  is  an  indefinite  term  ;  and  in  settling  how  many, 
the  calculations  of  parents  and  children  may  vary  ma- 
terially. This  little  play  is  so  charmingly  written, 
the  character  of  the  imprudent  and  generous  Frederick 
is  so  likely  to  excite  imitation,  that  we  must  doubly  re- 
gret his  intimacy  with  the  coachman,  his  running  away 
from  school,  and  drinking  beer  at  an  alehouse  in  a  fair. 
The  coachman  is  an  excellent  old  man ;  he  is  turned 
away  for  having  let  master  Frederick  mount  his  box, 
assume  the  whip,  and  overturn  a  handsome  carriage. 
Frederick,  touched  with  gratitude  and  compassion,  gives 
the  old  man  all  his  pocket-money,  and  sells  a  watch  and 
some  books  to  buy  clothes  for  him.  The  motives  of 
Frederick's  conduct  are  excellent ;  and,  as  they  are  mis- 


246  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

represented  by  a  treacherous  and  hypocritical  cousin, 
we  sympathize  more  strongly  with  the  hero  of  the  piece; 
and  all  his  indiscretions  appear,  at  least,  amiable  de- 
fects. A  nice  observer*  of  the  human  heart  says,  that 
we  are  never  inclined  to  cure  ourselves  of  any  defect 
which  makes  us  agreeable.  Frederick's  real  virtues 
will  not,  probably,  excite  imitation  so  much  as  his  ima- 
ginary excellences.  We  should  take  the  utmost  care 
not  to  associate  in  the  mind  the  ideas  of  imprudence 
and  of  generosity  ;  of  hypocrisy  and  of  prudence  :  on 
the  contrary,  it  should  be  shown  that  prudence  is 
necessary  to  real  benevolence  ;  that  no  virtue  is  more 
useful,  and  consequently  more  respectable,  than  justice. 
These  homely  truths  will  never  be  attended  to  as  the 
countercheck  moral  of  an  interesting  story ;  stories 
which  require  such  morals,  should,  therefore,  be 
avoided. 

It  is  to  be  hoped,  that  select  parts  of  The  Children's 
Friend,!  translated  by  some  able  hand,  will  be  published 
hereafter  for  the  use  of  private  families.  Many  of  the 
stories  to  which  we  have  ventured  to  object,  are  by  no 
means  unfit  for  schoolboys,  to  whom  the  characters 
which  are  most  exceptionable  cannot  be  new.  The 
vulgarity  of  language  which  we  have  noticed,  is  not  to 
be  attributed  to  M.  Berquin,  but  to  his  wretched  trans- 
lator. L'Ami  des  Enfans  is,  in  French,  remarkably 
elegantly  written.  The  Little  Canary  Bird,  Little 
George,  The  Talkative  Little  Girl,  The  Four  Seasons, 
and  many  others,  are  excellent  both  in  point  of  style 
and  dramatic  effect ;  they  are  exactly  suited  to  the  un- 
derstandings of  children  ;  and  they  interest  without  any 
improbable  events  or  unnatural  characters. 

In  fiction  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  giving  children  false 
ideas  of  virtue,  and  still  more  difficult  to  keep  the  dif- 
ferent virtues  in  their  due  proportions.  This  should  be 
attended  to  with  care  in  all  books  for  young  people ; 
nor  should  we  sacrifice  the  understanding  to  the  en- 
thusiasm of  eloquence,  or  the  affectation  of  sensibility. 
Without  the  habit  of  reasoning,  the  best  dispositions 
can  give  us  no  solid  security  for  happiness  ;  therefore, 
we  should  early  cultivate  the  reasoning  faculty,  instead 
of  always  appealing  to  the  imagination.  By  sentimental 

*  Marmontel.     "  On  ne  se  gueiit  pas  d'un  defaut  qui  plait." 
f  We  have  heard  that  such  a  translation  was  begun. 


BOOKS.  247 

persuasives,  a  child  may  be  successfully  governed  for 
a  time,  but  that  time  will  be  of  short  duration,  and  rio 
power  can  continue  the  delusion  long. 

In  the  dialogue  upon  this  maxim,  "  that  a  competence 
is  best,"  the  reasoning  of  the  father  is  not  a  match  for 
that  of  the  son  ;  by  using  less  eloquence,   the  father 
might  have  made  out  his  case  much  better.     The  boy 
sees  that  many  people  are  richer  than  his  father,  and 
perceiving  that  their  riches  procure,  a  great  number  of 
conveniences  and  comforts  for  them,  he  asks  why  his 
father,  who  is  as  good  as  these  opulent  people,  should 
not  also  be  as  rich.     His  father  tells  him  that  he  is  rich, 
that  he  has  a  large  garden,  and  a  fine  estate  ;  the  boy 
asks  to  see  it,  and  his  father  takes  him  to  the  top  of  a 
high  hill,  and,  showing  him  an  extensive  prospect,  says 
to  him,  "  All  this  is  my  estate."     The  boy  crossques- 
tions  his  father,  and  finds  out  that  it  is  not  his  estate, 
but  that  he  may  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  looking  at  it ;  that 
he  can  buy  wood  when  he  wants  it  for  firing ;  venison, 
without  hunting  the  deer  himself;  fish,  without  fishing ; 
and  butter,  without  possessing  all  the  cows  that  graze 
in  the  valley ;  therefore  he  calls  himself  master  of  the 
woods,  the  deer,  the  herds,  the  huntsmen,  and  the  la- 
bourers that  he  beholds.     This  is*  poetic  philosophy, 
but  it  is  not  sufficiently  accurate  for  a  child  ;  it  would 
confound  his  ideas  of  property,  and  it  would  be  imme- 
diately contradicted  by  his  experience.     The  father's 
reasoning  is  perfectly  good,  and  well  adapted  to  his 
pupil's  capacity,  when  he  asks  "  whether  he   should 
not  require  a  superfluous  appetite  to  enjoy  superfluous 
dishes  at  his  meals."     In  returning  from  his  walk,  the 
boy  sees  a  mill  that  is  out  of  repair,  a  meadow  that  is 
flooded,  and  a  quantity  of  hay  spoiled ;  he  observes  that 
the  owners  of  these  things  must  be  sadly  vexed  by  such 
accidents,   and  his  father  congratulates  himself  upon 
their  not  being  his  property.     Here  is  a  direct  contra- 
diction ;  for  a  few  minutes  before  he  had  asserted  that 
they  belonged  to  him.     Property  is  often  the  cause  of 
much  anxiety  to  its  possessor ;   but  the  question  is, 
whether  the  pains  or  the  pleasures  of  possessing  it  pre- 
dominate ;  if  this  question  could  not  be  fully  discussed, 
it  should  not  be  partially  stated.     To  silence  a  child 
in  argument  is  easy,  to  convince  him  is  difficult ;  sophis- 

*  See  Hor.  2  Epist.  lib.  ii. 


248  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

try  or  wit  should  never  be  used  to  confound  the  under- 
standing. Reason  has  equal  force  from  the  lips  of  the 
giant  and  of  the  dwarf. 

These  minute  criticisms  may  appear  invidious,  but 
it  is  hoped  that  they  will  be  considered  only  as  illustra- 
tions of  general  principles ;  illustrations  necessary  to 
our  subject.     We  have  chosen  M.  Berquin's  work  be- 
cause  of   its   universal    popularity ;  probably  all  the 
examples  which  have  been  selected  are  in  the  recol- 
lection of  most  readers,  or  at  least  it  is  easy  to  refer  to 
them,  because  The  Children's  Friend  is  to  be  found  in 
every  house  where  there  are  any  children.     The  prin- 
ciples by  which  we  have  examined  Berquin,  may  be 
applied  to  all  books  of  the  same  class.     Sandford  and 
Merton,  Madame  de  Silleri's  Theatre  of  Education,  and 
her  Tales  of  the  Castle,  Madame  de  la  Fite's  Tales  and 
Conversations,  Mrs.  Smith's  Rural  Walks,  with  a  long 
list  of  other  books  for  children,  which  have  considerable 
merit,  would  deserve  a  separate  analysis  if  literary  crit- 
icism were  our  object.    A  critic  once,  with  indefatigable 
illnature,  picked  out  all  the  faults  of  a  beautiful  poem, 
and  presented  them  to  Apollo.      The   god  ordered  a 
bushel  of  his  best  Parnassian  wheat  to  be  carefully  win- 
nowed, and  he  presented  the  critic  with  the  chaff.     Our 
wish  is  to  separate  the  small  portion  of  what  is  useless, 
from  the  excellent  nutriment  contained  in  the  books  we 
have  mentioned. 

With  respect  to  sentimental  stories,*  and  books  of 
mere  entertainment,  we  must  remark,  that  they  should 
be  sparingly  used,  especially  in  the  education  of  girls. 
This  species  of  reading  cultivates  what  is  called  the 
heart  prematurely ;  lowers  the  tone  of  the  mind,  and 
induces  indifference  for  those  common  pleasures  and 
occupations  which,  however  trivial  in  themselves,  con- 
stitute by  far  the  greatest  portion  of  our  daily  happi- 
ness. Stories  are  the  novels  of  childhood.  We  know, 
from  common  experience,  the  effects  which  are  produced 
upon  the  female  mind  by  immoderate  novel-reading.  To 
those  who  acquire  this  taste,  every  object  becomes  dis- 
gusting which  is  not  in  an  attitude  for  poetic  painting ; 
a  species  of  moral  picturesque  is  sought  for  in  e\cry 
scene  of  life,  and  this  is  not  always  compatibi&  v-'fch 
sound  sense  or  with  simple  reality.  Gainsborough's 

*  See  Sympathy  and  Sensibility. 


BOORS.  249 

Country  Girl,  as  it  has  been  humorously*  remarked, 
"is  a  much  more  picturesque  object  than  a  girl  neatly 
dressed  in  a  clean  white  frock ;  but  for  this  reason,  are 
ail  children  to  go  in  rags  !"  A  tragedy  heroine,  weep- 
ing, swooning,  dying,  is  a  moral  picturesque  object ;  but 
the  frantic  passions,  which  have  the  best  effect  upon 
the  stage,  might,  when  exhibited  in  domestic  life,  ap- 
pear to  be  drawn  upon  too  large  a  scale  to  please.  The 
difference  between  reality  and  fiction  is  so  great,  that 
those  who  copy  from  any  thing  but  nature  are  contin- 
ually disposed  to  make  mistakes  in  their  conduct,  which 
appear  ludicrous  to  the  impartial  spectator.  Pathos  de- 
pends on  such  nice  circumstances,  that  domestic,  senti- 
mental distresses,  are  in  a  perilous  situation ;  the  sym- 
pathy of  their  audience  is  not  always  in  the  power  of 
the  fair  performers.  Phrensy  itself  may  be  turned  to 
farce.f  "  Enter  the  princess  mad  in  white  satin,  and 
her  attendant  mad  in  white  linen." 

Besides  the  danger  of  creating  a  romantic  taste,  there 
is  reason  to  believe,  that  the  species  of  reading  to  which 
we  object  has  an  effect  directly  opposite  to  what  it  is 
intended  to  produce.  It  diminishes,  instead  of  increas- 
ing, the  sensibility  of  the  heart ;  a  combination  of  ro- 
mantic imagery  is  requisite  to  act  upon  the  associations 
of  sentimental  people,  and  they  are  virtuous  only  when 
virtue  is  in  perfectly  good  taste.  An  eloquent  philoso- 
pher! observes,  that  in  the  description  of  scenes  of  dis- 
tress in  romance  and  poetry,  the  distress  is  always  made 
elegant;  the  imagination  which  has  been  accustomed  to 
this  delicacy  in  fictitious  narrations,  revolts  from  the 
disgusting  circumstances  which  attend  real  poverty,  dis- 
ease, and  misery ;  the  emotions  of  pity,  and  the  ex- 
ertions of  benevolence,  are  consequently  repressed 
precisely  at  the  time  when  they  are  necessary  to  hu- 
manity. 

With  respect  to  pity,  it  is  a  spontaneous,  natural 
emotion,  which  is  strongly  felt  by  children,  but  they 
cannot  properly  be  said  to  feel  benevolence  till  they  are 
capable  of  reasoning.  Charity  must,  in  them,  be  a  very 
doubtful  virtue ;  they  cannot  be  competent  judges  as  to 
the  general  utility  of  what  they  give.  Persons  of  the 

*  See  a  letter  of  Mr.  Wyndham's  to  Mr.  Repton,  in  Repton,  on 
Landscape  Gardening. 
t  The  Critic.  J  Professor  Stewart. 


' 


250  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

most  enlarged  understanding,  find  it  necessary  to  be  ex- 
tremely cautious  in  charitable  donations,  lest  they  should 
do  more  harm  than  good.  Children  cannot  see  beyond 
the  first  link  in  the  chain  which  holds  society  together ; 
at  the  best,  then,  their  charity  can  be  but  a  partial  virtue. 
But  in  fact,  children  have  nothing  to  give  ;  they  think 
that  they  give,  when  they  dispose  of  the  property  of 
their  parents  ;  they  suffer  no  privation  from  this  sort  of 
generosity,  and  they  learn  ostentation,  instead  of  prac- 
tising self-denial.  Berquin,  in  his  excellent  story  of 
"  The  Little  Needle  Woman,"  has  made  the  children 
give  their  own  work;  here  the  pleasure  of  employment 
is  immediately  connected  with  the  gratification  of  be- 
nevolent feelings  ;  their  pity  is  not  merely  passive,  it  is 
active  and  useful. 

In  fictitious  narratives,  affection  for  parents,  and  for 
brothers  and  sisters,  is  often  painted  in  agreeable  colours, 
to  excite  the  admiration  and  sympathy  of  children. 
Caroline,  the  charming  little  girl  who  gets  upon  a  chair 
to  wipe  away  the  tears  that  trickle  down  her  eldest 
sister's  cheek  when  her  mother  is  displeased  with  her,* 
forms  a  natural  and  beautiful  picture ;  but  the  desire  to 
imitate  Caroline  must  produce  affectation.  All  the  sim- 
plicity of  youth  is  gone,  the  moment  children  perceive 
that  they  are  extolled  for  the  expression  of  fine  feelings 
and  fine  sentiments.  Gratitude,  esteem,  and  affection, 
do  not  depend  upon  the  table  of  consanguinity ;  they  are 
involuntary  feelings,  which  cannot  be  raised  at  pleasure 
by  the  voice  of  authority ;  they  will  not  obey  the  dic- 
tates of  interest ;  they  secretly  despise  the  anathemas 
of  sentiment.  Esteem  and  affection  are  the  necessary 
consequences  of  a  certain  course  of  conduct,  combined 
with  certain  external  circumstances,  which  are,  more  or 
less,  in  the  power  of  every  individual.  To  arrange  these 
circumstances  prudently,  and  to  pursue  a  proper  course 
of  conduct  steadily,  something  more  is  necessary  than 
the  transitory  impulse  of  sensibility  or  of  enthusiasm. 

There  is  a  class  of  books  which  amuse  the  imagina- 
tion of  children  without  acting  upon  their  feelings.  We 
do  not  allude  to  fairy  tales,  for  we  apprehend  that  these 
are  not  now  much  read;  but  we  mean  voyages  and 
travels  ;  these  interest  young  people  universally.  Rob- 
inson Crusoe,  Gulliver,  and  the  Three  Russian  Sailors, 

*  Berquin. 


BOOKS.  251 

who  were  cast  away  upon  the  coast  of  Norway,  are 
general  favourites.  No  child  ever  read  an  account  of  a 
shipwreck,  or  even  a  storm,  without  pleasure.  A  desert 
island  is  a  delightful  place,  to  be  equalled  only  by  the 
skating  land  of  the  raindeer,  or  by  the  valley  of  dia- 
monds in  the  Arabian  Tales.  Savages,  especially  if  they 
be  cannibals,  are  sure  to  be  admired  ;  and  the  more  hair- 
breadth escapes  the  hero  of  the  tale  has  survived,  and 
the  more  marvellous  his  adventures,  .the  more  sympathy 
he  excites.* 

Will  it  be  thought  to  proceed  from  a  spirit  of  contra- 
diction if  we  remark,  that  this  species  of  reading  should 
not  early  be  chosen  for  boys  of  an  enterprising  temper, 
unless  they  are  intended  for  a  seafaring  life,  or  for  the 
army  ?  The  taste  for  adventure  is  absolutely  incom- 
patible with  the  sober  perseverance  necessary  to  suc- 
cess in  any  other  liberal  professions.  To  girls,  this 
species  of  reading  cannot  be  as  dangerous  as  it  is  to 
boys ;  girls  must  very  soon  perceive  the  impossibility 
of  their  rambling  about  the  world  in  quest  'of  adven- 
tures ;  and  where  there  appears  an  obvious  impossibility 
of  gratifying  any  wish,  it  is  not  likely  to  become,  or  at 
least  to  continue,  a  torment  to  the  imagination.  Boys, 
on  the  contrary,  from  the  habits  of  their  education,  are 
prone  to  admire  and  to  imitate  every  thing  like  enter- 
prise and  heroism.  Courage  and  fortitude  are  the  vir- 
tues of  men,  and  it  is  natural  that  boys  should  desire,  if 
they  believe  that  they  possess  these  virtues,  to  be  placed 
in  those  great  and  extraordinary  situations  which  can 
display  them  to  advantage.  The  taste  for  adventure  is 
not  repressed  in  boys  by  the  impossibility  of  its  indul- 
gence ;  the  world  is  before  them,  and  they  think  that 
fame  promises  the  highest  prize  to  those  who  will  most 
boldly  venture  in  the  lottery  of  fortune.  The  rational 
probability  of  success,  few  young  people  are  able,  fewer 
still  are  willing,  to  calculate ;  and  the  calculations  of 
prudent  friends  have  little  power  over  their  understand- 
ings, or,  at  least,  over  their  imagination,  the  part  of  the 
understanding  which  is  most  likely  to  decide  their  con- 
duct.— From  general  maxims,  we  cannot  expect  that 
young  people  should  learn  much  prudence;  each  indi- 
vidual admits  the  propriety  of  the  rule,  yet  believes 
himself  to  be  a  privileged  exception.  Where  any  prize 

*  See  Sympathy  and  Sensibility. 


252  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

is  supposed  to  be  in  the  gift  of  fortune,  every  man,  or 
every  young  man,  takes  it  for  granted  that  he  is  a  fa- 
vourite, and  that  it  will  be  bestowed  upon  him.  The 
profits  of  commerce  and  of  agriculture,  the  profits  of 
every  art  and  profession,  can  be  estimated  with  tolerable 
accuracy ;  the  value  of  activity,  application,  and  abili- 
ties, can  be  respectively  measured  by  some  certain 
standard.  Modest,  or  even  prudent  people,  will  scruple 
to  rate  themselves  in  all  of  these  qualifications  superior 
to  their  neighbours ;  but  every  man  will  allow  that,  in 
point  of  good  fortune,  at  any  game  of  chance,  he 
thinks  himself  upon  a  fair  level  with  every  other  com- 
petitor. 

When  a  young  man  deliberates  upon  what  course 
of  life  he  shall  follow,  the  patient  drudgery  of  a  trade, 
the  laborious  mental  exertions  requisite  to  prepare  him 
for  a  profession,  must  appear  to  him  in  a  formidable 
light,  compared  with  the  alluring  prospects  presented 
by  an  adventuring  imagination.  At  this  time  of  life,  it 
will  be  too  late  suddenly  to  change  the  taste  ;  it  will  be 
inconvenient,  if  not  injurious,  to  restrain  a  young  man's 
inclinations  by  force  or  authority  ;  it  will  be  imprudent, 
perhaps  fatally  imprudent,  to  leave  them  uncontrolled. 
Precautions  should  therefore  be  taken  long  be  fore  this  pe- 
riod, and  the  earlier  they  are  taken  the  better.  It  is  not 
idle  refinement  to  assert,  that  the  first  impressions  which 
are  made  upon  the  imagination,  though  they  may  be 
changed  by  subsequent  circumstances,  yet  are  discernible 
in  every  change,  and  are  seldom  entirely  effaced  from  the 
mind,  though  it  may  be  difficult  to  trace  them  through  all 
their  various  appearances.  A  boy  who  at  seven  years  old 
longs  to  be  Robinson  Crusoe,  or  Sinbad  the  sailor,  may, 
at  seventeen,  retain  the  same  taste  for  adventure  and 
enterprise,  though  mixed,  so  as  to  be  less  discernible, 
with  the  incipient  passions  of  avarice  and  ambition ;  he 
has  the  same  dispositions  modified  by  a  slight  knowl- 
edge of  real  life,  and  guided  by  the  manners  and  con- 
versation of  his  friends  and  acquaintance.  Robinson 
Crusoe  and  Sinbad  will  no  longer  be  his  favourite  he- 
roes ;  but  he  will  now  admire  the  soldier  of  fortune,  the 
commercial  adventurer,  or  the  nabob,  who  has  dis- 
covered in  the  east  the  secret  of  Aladdin's  wonderful 
lamp ;  and  who  has  realized  the  treasures  of  Aboul- 
casem. 

The-  history  of  realities,  written  in  an  entertaining 


BOOKS.  253 

manner,  appears  not  only  better  suited  to  the  purposes 
of  education,  but  also  more  agreeable  to  young  people, 
than  improbable  fictions.  We  have  seen  the  reasons 
why  it  is  dangerous  to  pamper  the  taste  early  with  mere 
books  of  entertainment;  to  voyages  and  travels  we 
have  made  some  objections.  Natural  history  is  a  study 
particularly  suited  to  children  :  it  cultivates  their  talents 
for  observation,  applies  to  objects  within  their  reach, 
and  to  objects  which  are  every  day  interesting  to  them. 
The  histories  of  the  bee,  the  ant,  the  caterpillar,  the 
butterfly,  the  silkworm,  are  the  first  things  that  please 
the  taste  of  children,  and  these  are  the  histories  of 
realities. 

Among  books  of  mere  entertainment,  no  one  can  be 
so  injudicious,  or  so  unjust,  as  to  class  the  excellent 
"  Evenings  at  Home."  Upon  a  close  examination,  it 
appears  to  be  one  of  the  best  books  for  young  people 
from  seven  to  ten  years  old,  that  has  yet  appeared.  We 
shall  not  pretend  to  enter  into  a  minute  examination  of 
it ;  because,  from  what  we  have  already  said,  parents 
can  infer  our  sentiments,  and  we  wish  to  avoid  tedious, 
unnecessary  detail.  We  shall,  however,  just  observe, 
that  the  lessons  on  natural  history,  on  metals,  and  on 
chymistry,  are  particularly  useful ;  not  so  much  from  the 
quantity  of  knowledge  which  they  contain,  as  by  the 
agreeable  manner  in  which  it  is  communicated :  the 
mind  is  opened  to  extensive  views,  at  the  same  time 
that  nothing  above  the  comprehension  of  children  is 
introduced.  The  mixture  of  moral  and  scientific  lessons 
is  happily  managed,  so  as  to  relieve  the  attention; 
some  of  the  moral  lessons  contain  sound  argument,  and 
some  display  just  views  of  life.  "  Perseverance  against 
Fortune ;"  "  The  Price  of  Victory ;"  "  Eyes  and  no 
Eyes,"  have  been  generally  admired  as  much  by  parents 
as  by  children. 

There  is  a  little  book  called  "  Leisure  Hours,"  which 
contains  a  great  deal  of  knowledge  suited  to  young  peo- 
ple ;  but  they  must  observe,  that  the  style  is  not  ele- 
gant; perhaps,  in  a  future  edition,  the  style  may  be 
revised.  The  "  Conversations  d'Emile"  are  elegantly 
written,  and  the  character  of  the  mother  and  child  ad- 
mirably well  preserved.  White  of  Selborne's  Natural- 
ist's Calendar,  we  can  recommend  with  entire  approba- 
tion :  it  is  written  in  a  familiar,  yet  elegant  style ;  and 
the  journal  form  gives  it  that  air  of  reality  which  is  so 
22 


254  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

agreeable  and  interesting  to  the  mind.  Mr.  White  will 
make  those  who  have  observed,  observe  the  more,  and 
will  excite  the  spirit  of  observation  in  those  who  never 
before  observed. 

Smellie's  Natural  History  is  a  useful,  entertaining 
book ;  but  it  must  be  carefully  looked  over,  and  many 
pages  and  half  pages  must  be  entirely  sacrificed.  And 
here  one  general  caution  may  be  necessary.  It  is 
hazarding  too  much  to  make  children  promise  not  to 
read  parts  of  any  book  which  is  put  into  their  hands  ; 
when  the  book  is  too  valuable,  in  a  parent's  estimation, 
to  be  cut  or  blotted,  let  it  not  be  given  to  children  when 
they  are  alone ;  in  a  parent's  presence  there  is  no  dan- 
ger, and  the  children  will  acquire  the  habit  of  reading 
the  passages  that  are  selected  without  feeling  curiosity 
about  the  rest.  As  young  people  grow  up,  they  will 
judge  of  the  selections  that  have  been  made  for  them  ; 
they  will  perceive  why  such  a  passage  was  fit  for  their 
understanding  at  one  period,  which  they  could  not  have 
understood  at  another.  If  they  are  never  forced  to 
read  what  is  tiresome,  they  will  anxiously  desire  to 
have  passages  selected  for  them  ;  and  they  will  not 
imagine  that  their  parents  are  capricious  in  these  selec- 
tions ;  but  they  will,  we  speak  from  experience,  be  sin- 
cerely grateful  to  them  for  the  time  and  trouble  be- 
stowed in  procuring  their  literary  amusements. 

When  young  people  have  established  their  character 
for  truth  and  exact  integrity,  they  should  be  entirely 
trusted  with  books  as  with  every  thing  else.  A  slight 
pencil  line  at  the  side  of  a  page  will  then  be  all  that  is 
necessary  to  guide  them  to  the  best  parts  of  any  book. 
Suspicion  would  be  as  injurious  as  too  easy  a  faith  is 
imprudent :  confidence  confirms  integrity ;  but  the 
habits  of  truth  must  be  formed  before  dangerous  tempta- 
tions are  presented.  We  intended  to  give  *  a  list  of 
books,  and  to  name  the  pages  in  several  authors,  which 
have  been  found  interesting  to  children  from  seven  to 
nine  or  ten  years  old.  The  Reviews ;  The  Annual 
Registers;  Enfield's  Speaker ;  Elegant  Extracts ;  The 
papers  of  the  Manchester  Society ;  The  French  Academy 
of  Sciences ;  Priestley's  History  of  Vision ;  and  parts 
of  the  Works  of  Franklin,  of  Chaptal,  Lavoisier,  and 
Darwin,  have  supplied  us  with  our  best  materials. 
Some  periodical  papers  from  the  World,  Rambler, 
Guardian,  and  Adventurer,  have  been  chosen  :  these 


BOOKS.  255 

are  books  with  which  all  libraries  are  furnished.  But 
we  forbear  to  offer  any  list ;  the  passages  we  should 
have  mentioned  have  been  found  to  please  in  one 
family  ;  but  we  are  sensible,  that  as  circumstances  vary, 
the  choice  of  books  for  different  families  ought  to  be 
different.  Every  parent  must  be  capable  of  selecting 
those  passages  in  books  which  are  most  suited  to  the 
age,  temper,  and  taste  of  their  children.  Much  of  the 
success,  both  of  literary  and  moral  education,  will  de- 
pend upon  our  seizing  the  happy  moments  for  instruc- 
tion ;  moments  when  knowledge  immediately  applies 
to  what  children  are  intent  upon  themselves ;  the  step 
which  is  to  be  taken  by  the  understanding,  should  im- 
mediately follow  that  which  has  already  been  secured. 
By  watching  the  turn  of  mind,  and  by  attending  to  the 
conversation  of  children,  we  may  perceive  exactly 
what  will  suit  them  in  books  ;  and  we  may  preserve  the 
connexion  of  their  ideas  without  fatiguing  their  atten- 
tion. A  paragraph  read  aloud  from  the  newspaper  of 
the  day,  a  passage  from  any  book  which  parents  happen 
to  be  reading  themselves,  will  catch  the  attention  of  the 
young  people  in  a  family,  and  will,  perhaps,  excite  more 
taste  and  more  curiosity,  than  could  be  given  by  whole 
volumes  read  at  times  when  the  mind  is  indolent  or 
intent  upon  other  occupations. 

The  custom  of  reading  aloud  for  a  great  while  to- 
gether is  extremely  fatiguing  to  children,  and  hurtful  to 
their  understandings  ;  they  learn  to  read  on  without  the 
slightest  attention  or  thought ;  the  more  fluently  they 
read,  the  worse  it  is  for  them ;  for  their  preceptors, 
while  words  and  sentences  are  pronounced  with  tolera- 
ble emphasis,  never  seem  to  suspect  that  the  reader  can 
be  tired,  or  that  his  mind  may  be  absent  from  his  book. 
The  monotonous  tones  which  are  acquired  by  children 
who  read  a  great  deal  aloud,  are  extremely  disagreeable, 
and  the  habit  cannot  easily  be  broken :  we  may  observe, 
that  children  who  have  not  acquired  bad  customs,  al- 
ways read  as  they  speak,  when  they  understand  what 
they  read  ;  but  the  moment  when  they  come  to  any 
sentence  which  they  do  not  comprehend,  their  voice 
alters,  and  they  read  with  hesitation,  or  with  false  em- 
phasis: to  these  signals  a  preceptor  should  always 
attend,  and  the  passage  should  be  explained  before  the 
pupil  is  taught  to  read  it  in  a  musical  tone,  or  with  the 
proper  emphasis  :  thus  children  should  be  taught  to  read 


256  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

by  the  understanding,  and  not  merely  by  the  ear. 
Dialogues,  dramas,  and  well-written  narratives,  they 
always  read  well,  and  these  should  be  their  exercises  in 
the  art  of  reading  :  they  should  be  allowed  to  put  down 
the  book  as  soon  as  they  are  tired  ;  but  an  attentive 
tutor  will  perceive  when  they  ought  to  be  stopped,  be- 
fore the  utmost  point  of  fatigue.  We  have  heard  a  boy 
of  nine  years  old,  who  had  never  been  taught  elocution 
by  any  reading-master,  read  simple  pathetic  passages, 
and  natural  dialogues,  in  "  Evenings  at  Home,"  in  a 
manner  which  would  have  made  even  Sterne's  critic 
forget  his  stop-watch. 

By  reading  much  at  a  time,  it  is  true  that  a  great 
number  of  books  are  run  through  in  a  few  years ;  but 
this  is  not  at  all  our  object ;  on  the  contrary,  our  great- 
est difficulty  has  been  to  find  a  sufficient  number  of 
books  fit  for  children  to  read.  If  they  early  acquire  a 
strong  taste  for  literature,  no  matter  how  few  authors 
they  may  have  perused.  We  have  often  heard  young 
people  exclaim,  "  I'm  glad  I  have  not  read  such  a  book 
— I  have  a  great  pleasure  to  come  !" — Is  not  this  better 
than  to  see  a  child  yawn  over  a  work,  and  count  the 
number  of  tiresome  pages,  while  he  says,  "  1  shall  have 
got  through  this  book  by-and-by  ;  and  what  must  I  read 
when  I  have  done  this  1  I  believe  I  never  shall  have 
read  all  I  am  to  read !  What  a  number  of  tiresome 
books  there  are  in  the  world  !  I  wonder  what  can  be 
the  reason  that  I  must  read  them  all"!  If  I  were  but 
allowed  to  skip  the  pages  that  I  don't  understand,  I 
should  be  much  happier ;  for  when  I  come  to  any  thing 
entertaining  in  a  book,  I  can  keep  myself  awake,  and 
then  I  like  reading  as  well  as  anybody  does." 

Far  from  forbidding  to  skip  the  incomprehensible 
pages,  or  to  close  the  tiresome  volume,  we  should  ex- 
hort our  pupils  never  to  read  one  single  page  that  tires, 
or  that  they  do  not  fully  understand.  We  need  not  fear, 
that,  because  an  excellent  book  is  not  interesting  at  one 
period  of  education,  it  should  not  become  interesting  at 
another ;  the  child  is  always  the  best  judge  of  what  is 
suited  to  his  present  capacity.  If  he  says,  "  Such  a 
book  tires  me,"  the  preceptor  should  never  answer  with 
a  forbidding,  reproachful  look,  "  I  am  surprised  at  that, 
it  is  no  great  proof  of  your  taste  ;  the  book  which  you 
say  tires  you,  is  written  by  one  of  the  best  authors  in 
the  English  language."  The  boy  is  sorry  for  it,  but  he 


BOOKS.  257 

cannot  help  it ;  and  he  concludes,  if  he  be  of  a  timid 
temper,  that  he  has  no  taste  for  literature,  since  the  best 
authors  in  the  English  language  tire  him.  It  is  m  vain 
to  tell  him  that  the  book  is  *'  universally  allowed  to  be 
very  entertaining" — 

'If  it  be  not  such  to  me, 
What  care  I  how  fine  it  be !" 

The  more  encouraging  and  more  judicious  parent 
would  answer  upon  a  similar  occasion,  "  You  are  very 
right  not  to  read  what  tires  you,  my  dear ;  and  I  am 
glad  that  you  have  sense  enough  to  tell  me  that  this 
book  does  not  entertain  you,  though  it  is  written  by  one 
of  the  best  authors  in  the  English  language.  We  do 
not  think  at  all  the  worse  of  your  taste  and  understand- 
ing; we  know  that  the  day  will  come  when  this  book 
will  probably  entertain  you;  put  it  by  until  then,  I 
advise  you." 

It  may  be  thought,  that  young  people  who  read  only 
those  parts  of  books  which  are  entertaining,  or  those 
which  are  selected  for  them,  are  in  danger  of  learning 
a  taste  for  variety,  and  desultory  habits,  which  may 
prevent  their  acquiring  accurate  knowledge  upon  any 
subject,  and  which  may  render  them  incapable  of  that 
literary  application,  without  which  nothing  can  be 
well  learned.  We  hope  the  candid  preceptor  will  sus- 
pend his  judgment,  until  we  can  explain  our  sentiments 
upon  this  subject  more  fully,  when  we  examine  .the 
nature  of  invention  and  memory.* 

The  secret  fear  that  stimulates  parents  to  compel  their 
ahildren  to  constant  application  to  certain  books,  arises 
from  the  opinion,  that  much  chronological  and  historical 
knowledge  must  at  all  events  be  acquired  during  a  certain 
number  of  years.  The  knowledge  of  history  is  thought 
a  necessary  accomplishment  in  one  sex,  and  an  essen- 
tial part  of  education  in  the  other.  We  ought,  however, 
to  distinguish  between  that  knowledge  of  history  and 
of  chronology  which  is  really  useful,  and  that  which  is 
acquired  merely  for  parade.  We  must  call  that  useful 
knowledge  which  enlarges  the  view  of  human  life  and 
of  human  nature,  which  teaches  by  the  experience  of 
the  past  what  we  may  expect  in  future.  To  study 

*  Chapter  on  Invention  and  Memory, 


258  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

history  as  it  relates  to  these  objects,  the  pupil  must  have 
acquired  much  previous  knowledge ;  the  habit  of  rea- 
soning, and  the  power  of  combining  distant  analogies. 
The  works  of  Hume,  of  Robertson,  Gibbon,  or  Voltaire, 
can  be  properly  understood  only  by  well-informed  and 
highly  cultivated  understandings.  Enlarged  views  of 
policy,  some  knowledge  of  the  interests  of  commerce, 
of  the  progress  and  state  of  civilization  and  literature  in 
different  countries,  are  necessary  to  any  one  who 
studies  these  authors  with  real  advantage.  Without 
these,  the  finest  sense  and  the  finest  writing  must  be 
atterly  thrown  away  upon  the  reader.  Children,  conse- 
quently, under  the  name  of  fashionable  histories,  often 
read  what  to  them  is  absolute  nonsense :  they  have 
very  little  motive  for  the  study  of  history,  and  all  that 
we  can  say  to  keep  alive  their  interest,  amounts  to  the 
common  argument,  *'  that  such  information  will  be  use- 
ful to  them  hereafter,  when  they  hear  history  mentioned 
in  conversation." 

Some  people  imagine  that  the  memory  resembles  a 
storehouse,  in  which  we  should  early  lay  up  facts  ;  and 
they  assert  that,  however  useless  these  may  appear  at 
the  time  when  they  are  laid  up,  they  will  afterward  be 
ready  for  service  at  our  summons.  One  comparison 
may  be  fairly  answered  by  another,  since  it  is  impossible 
to  oppose  comparison  by  reasoning.  In  accumulating 
facts,  as  in  amassing  riches,  people  often  begin  by  be- 
lieving that  they  value  wealth  only  for  the  use  they 
shall  make  of  it ;  but  it  often  happens,  that  during  the 
course  of  their  labours  they  learn  habitually  to  set  a 
value  upon  the  coin  itself,  and  they  grow  avaricious  of 
that  which  they  are  sensible  has  little  intrinsic  value. 
Young  people  who  have  accumulated  a  vast  number  of 
facts,  and  names,  and  dates,  perhaps  intended  originally 
to  make  some  good  use  of  their  treasure  ;  but  they  fre- 
quently forget  their  laudable  intentions,  and  conclude  by 
contenting  themselves  with  the  display  of  their  nominal 
wealth.  Pedants  and  misers  forget  the  real  use  of 
wealth  and  knowledge,  and  they  accumulate,  without 
rendering  what  they  acquire  useful  to  themselves  or  to 
others. 

A  number  of  facts  are  often  stored  in  the  mind  which 
lie  there  useless,  because  they  cannot  be  found  at  the 
moment  when  they  are  wanted.  It  is  not  sufficient, 
therefore,  in  education,  to  store  up  knowledge  ;  it  is 


BOOKS.  259 

essential  to  arrange  facts  so  that  they  shall  be  ready  for 
use,  as  materials  for  the  imagination,  or  the  judgment, 
to  select  and  combine.  The  power  of  retentive  mem- 
ory is  exercised  too  much,  the  faculty  of  recollective 
memory  is  exercised  too  little,  by  the  common  modes 
of  education.  While  children  are  reading  the  history 
of  kings,  and  battles,  and  victories — while  ,  they  are 
learning  tables  of  chronology  and  lessons  of  geography 
by  rote,  their  inventive  and  their  reasoning  faculties  are 
absolutely  passive  ;  nor  are  any  of  the  facts  which  they 
learn  in  this  manner  associated  with  circumstances  in 
real  life.  These  trains  of  ideas  may  with  much  pains 
and  labour  be  fixed  in  the  memory,  but  they  must  be  re- 
called precisely  in  the  order  in  which  they  were  learned 
by  rote,  and  this  is  not  the  order  in  which  they  may 
be  wanted :  they  will  be  conjured  up  in  technical  suc- 
cession or  in  troublesome  multitudes.  Many  people  are 
obliged  to  repeat  the  alphabet  before  they  can  recollect 
the  relative  place  of  any  given  letter ;  others  repeat  a 
column  of  the  multiplication  table  before  they  can  recol- 
lect the  given  sum  of  the  number  they  want.  There  i& 
a  common  rigmarole  for  telling  the  number  of  days  in 
each  month  in  the  year ;  those  who  have  learned  it  by 
heart  usually  repeat  the  whole  of  it  before  they  can 
recollect  the  place  of  the  month  which  they  want ;  and 
sometimes  in  running  over  the  lines,  people  miss  the 
very  month  which  they  are  thinking  of,  or  repeat  its 
name  without  perceiving  that  they  have  named  it.  In 
the  same  manner,  those  who  have  learned  historical  or 
chronological  facts  in  a  technical  mode,  must  go  through 
the  whole  train  of  their  rigmarole  associations  before 
they  can  hit  upon  the  idea  which  they  want.  Lord 
Bolingbroke  mentions  an  acquaintance  of  his,  who  had 
an  amazing  collection  of  facts  in  his  memory,  but  unfor- 
tunately he  could  never  produce  one  of  them  in  the 
proper  moment ;  he  was  always  obliged  to  go  back  to 
some  fixed  landing-place,  from  which  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  take  his  light.  Lord  Bolingbroke  used  to  be 
afraid  of  asking  him  a  question,  because  when  once  he 
began,  he  went  off  like  a  larum,  and  could  not  be  stopped ; 
he  poured  out  a  profusion  of  things  which  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  point  in  question  ;  and  it  was  ten  to  one 
but  he  omitted  the  only  circumstance  that  would  have 
been  really  serviceable.  Many  people  who  have  tena- 
cious memories^  and  who  have  been  ill  educated,  find 


260  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

themselves  in  a  similar  condition,  with  much  knowledge 
baled  up,  an  encumbrance  to  themselves  and  to  their 
friends.  The  great  difference  which  appears  in  men 
of  the  same  profession,  and  in  the  same  circumstances, 
depends  upon  the  application  of  their  knowledge  more 
than  upon  the  quantity  of  their  learning. 

With  respect  to  a  knowledge  of  history  and  chrono- 
logic learning,  everybody  is  now  nearly  upon  a  level ; 
this  species  of  information  cannot  -be  a  great  distinction 
to  any  one  :  a  display  of  such  common  knowledge  is 
considered  by  literary  people,  and  by  men  of  genius  es- 
pecially, as  ridiculous  and  offensive.  One  motive,  there- 
fore, for  loading  the  minds  of  children  with  historic 
dates  and  facts,  is  likely,  even  from  its  having  universally 
operated,  to  cease  to  operate  in  future.  Without  ma- 
king it  a  laborious  task  to  young  people,  it  is  easy  to 
give  them  such  a  knowledge  of  history  as  will  preserve 
them  from  the  shame  of  ignorance,  and  put  them  upon 
a  footing  with  men  of  good  sense  in  society,  though 
not,  perhaps,  with  men  who  have  studied  history  for  the 
purpose  of  shining  in  conversation.  For  our  purpose,  it 
is  not  necessary  early  to  study  voluminous  philosophic 
histories;  these  should  be  preserved  for  a  more  ad- 
vanced period  of  their  education.  The  first  thing  to  be 
done  is  to  seize  the  moment  when  curiosity  is  excited 
by  the  accidental  mention  of  any  historic  name  or 
event.  When  a  child  hears  his  father  talk  of  the  Ro- 
man emperors,  or  of  the  Roman  people,  he  naturally  in- 
quires who  these  people  were  ;  some  short  explanation 
may  be  given,  so  as  to  leave  curiosity  yet  unsatisfied. 
The  prints  of  the  Roman  emperors'  heads,  and  Mrs. 
Trimmer's  prints  of  the  remarkable  events  in  the  Roman 
and  English  history,  will  entertain  children.  Madame 
de  Silleri,  in  her  Adela  and  Theodore,  describes  histori- 
cal hangings,  which  she  found  advantageous  to  her  pu- 
pils. In  a  prince's  palace,  or  a  nobleman's  palace,  such 
hangings  would  be  suitable  decorations, — or  in  a  public 
seminary  of  education  it  would  be  worth  while  to  pre- 
pare them  :  private  families  would,  perhaps,  be  alarmed 
at  the  idea  of  expense,  and  at  the  idea  that  their  houses 
could  not  readily  be  furnished  in  proper  time  for  the  in- 
struction of  children.  As  we  know  the  effect  of  such 
apprehensions  of  difficulty,  we  forbear  from  insisting 
upon  historical  hangings,  especially  as  we  think  that 
children  should  not,  by  any  great  apparatus  for  teaching 


BOOKS.  261 

them  history,  be  induced  to  set  an  exorbitant  value  upon 
this  sort  of  knowledge,  and  should  hence  be  excited  to 
cultivate  their  memories  without  reasoning  or  reflect- 
ing. If  any  expedients  are  thought  necessary  to  fix  his- 
toric facts  early  in  the  mind,  the  entertaining  display  of 
Roman  emperors  and  British  kings  and  queens  may  be 
made,  as  Madame  de  Silleri  recommends,  in  a  magic 
lantern,  or  by  the  Ombres  Chinoises.  When  these  are 
exhibited,  there  should  be  some  care  taken  not  to  intro- 
duce any  false  ideas.  Parents  should  be  present  at  the 
spectacle,  and  should  answer  each  eager  question  with 
prudence.  "  Ha  !  here  conies  Queen  Elizabeth !"  ex- 
claims the  child  ;  "  was  she  a  good  woman  ?"  A  fool- 
ish show-man  would  answer, "  Yes,  master,  she  was  the 
greatest  queen  that  ever  sat  upon  the  English  throne  !" 
A  sensible  mother  would  reply,  "  My  dear,  I  cannot  an- 
swer that  question  ;  you  will  read  her  history  yourself, 
— you  will  judge  by  her  actions  whether  she  was  or  was 
not  a  good  woman."  Children  are  often  extremely  im- 
patient to  settle  the  precise  merit  and  demerit  of  every 
historical  personage  with  whose  names  they  become 
acquainted ;  but  this  impatience  should  not  be  gratified 
by  the  short  method  of  referring  to  the  characters  given 
of  these  persons  in  any  common  historical  abridgment. 
We  should  advise  all  such  characters  to  be  omitted  in 
books  for  children ;  let  those  who  read  form  a  judg- 
ment for  themselves  ;  this  will  do  more  service  to  the 
understanding  than  can  be  done  by  learning  by  rote  the 
opinion  of  any  historian.  The  good  and  bad  qualities, 
the  decisive,  yet  contradictory  epithets,  are  so  jumbled 
together  in  these  characters,  that  no  distinct  notion  can 
be  left  in  the  reader's  mind  :  and  the  same  words  recur 
so  frequently  in  the  characters  of  different  kings,  that 
they  are  read  over  in  a  monotonous  voice,  as  mere  con- 
cluding sentences,  which  come,  of  course,  at  the  end  of 
every  reign.  "  King  Henry  the  Fifth  was  tall  and  slen- 
der, with  a  long  neck,  engaging  aspect,  and  limbs  of  the 
most  elegant  turn.  ******  HJS  valour  was 
such  as  no  danger  could  startle,  and  no  difficulty  could 
oppose.  He  managed  the  dissensions  among  his  ene- 
mies with  such  address  as  spoke  him  consummate  in 
the  arts  of  the  cabinet.  He  was  chaste,  temperate,  mod- 
est, and  devout ;  scrupulously  just  in  his  administration, 
and  severely  exact  in  the  discipline  of  his  army,  upon 
which  he  knew  his  glory  and  success  in  a  great  measure 


262  PRACTICAL 

depended.  In  a  word,  it  must  be  owned  that  he  was 
without  an  equal  in  the  arts  of  war,  policy,  and  govern- 
ment. His  great  qualities  were,  however,  somewhat 
obscured  by  his  ambition,  and  his  natural  propensity  to 
cruelty." 

Is  it  possible  that  a  child  of  seven  or  eight  years  old 
can  acquire  any  distinct,  or  any  just  ideas,  from  the  pe- 
rusal of  this  character  of  Henry  the  Fifth  I  Yet  it  is 
selected  as  one  of  the  best  drawn  characters  from  a  little 
abridgment  of  the  history  of  England,  which  is,  in  gen- 
eral, as  well  done  as  any  we  have  seen.  Even  the  least 
exceptionable  historic  abridgments  require  the  correc- 
tions of  a  patient  parent.  In  abridgments  for  children, 
the  facts  are  usually  interspersed  with  what  the  authors 
intend  for  moral  reflections,  and  easy  explanations  of 
political  events,  which  are  meant  to  be  suited  to  the 
meanest  capacities.  These  reflections  and  explanations 
do  much  harm;  they  instil  prejudice,  and  they  accus- 
tom the  young,  unsuspicious  reader,  to  swallow  absurd 
reasoning,  merely  because  it  is  often  presented  to  him. 
If  no  history  can  be  found  entirely  free  from  these  de- 
fects, and  if  it  be  even  impossible  to  correct  any  com- 
pletely, without  writing  the  whole  over  again,  yet  much 
may  be  done  by  those  who  hear  children  read.  Expla- 
nations can  be  given  at  the  moment  when  the  difficulties 
occur.  When  the  young  reader  pauses  to  think,  allow 
him  to  think,  and  suffer  him  to  question  the  assertions 
which  he  meets  with  in  books  with  freedom,  and  that 
minute  accuracy  which  is  only  tiresome  to  those  who 
cannot  reason.  The  simple  morality  of  childhood  is 
continually  puzzled  and  shocked  at  the  representation 
of  the  crimes  and  the  virtues  of  historic  heroes.  His- 
tory, when  divested  of  the  graces  of  eloquence,  and  of 
that  veil  which  the  imagination  is  taught  to  throw  over 
antiquity,  presents  a  disgusting,  terrible  list  of  crimes 
and  calamities  :  murders,  assassinations,  battles,  revolu- 
tions, are  the  memorable  events  of  history.  The  love 
of  glory  atones  for  military  barbarity ;  treachery  and 
fraud  are  frequently  dignified  with  the  names  of  pru- 
dence and  policy  ;  and  the  historian,  desirous  to  appear 
moral  and  sentimental,  yet  compelled  to  produce  facts, 
makes  out  an  inconsistent,  ambiguous  system  of  moral- 
ity. A  judicious  and  honest  preceptor  will  not,  how- 
ever, imitate  the  false  tenderness  of  the  historian  for 
the  dead  ;  he  will  rather  consider  what  is  most  advan- 


BOOKS.  263 

tageous  to  the  living  ;  he  will  perceive  that  it  is  of  more 
consequence  that  his  pupils  should  have  distinct  notions 
of  right  and  wrong,  than  that  they  should  have  perfectly 
by  rote  all  the  Grecian,  Roman,  English,  French,  all  the 
fifty  volumes  of  the  Universal  History.  A  preceptor 
will  not  surely  attempt,  by  any  sophistry,  to  justify  the 
crimes  which  sometimes  obtain  the  name  of  heroism  ; 
when  his  ingenuous,  indignant  pupil  verifies  the  aston- 
ishing numeration  of  the  hundreds  and  thousands  that 
were  put  to  death  by  a  conqueror,  or  that  fell  in  one 
battle,  he  will  allow  this  astonishment  and  indignation 
to  be  just,  and  he  will  rejoice  that  it  is  strongly  felt  and 
expressed. 

Besides  the  false  characters  which  are  sometimes 
drawn  of  individuals  in  history,  national  characters  are 
often  decidedly  given  in  a  few  epithets,  which  prejudice 
the  mind  and  convey  no  real  information.  Can  a  child 
learn  any  thing  but  national  prepossession  from  reading, 
in  a  character  of  the  English  nation,  that  "  boys,  before 
they  can  speak,  discover  that  they  know  the  propel 
guards  in  boxing  with  their  fists,  a  quality  that,  perhaps, 
is  peculiar  to  the  English,  and  is  seconded  by  a  strength 
of  arm  that  few  other  people  can  exert  1  This  gives 
their  soldiers  an  infinite  superiority  in  all  battles  that 
are  to  be  decided  by  the  bayonet  screwed  upon  the 
musket."*  Why  should  children  be  told  that  the  Ital- 
ians are  naturally  revengeful ;  the  French  naturally  vain 
and  perfidious,  "  excessively  credulous  and  litigious ;" 
that  the  Spaniards  are  naturally  jealous  and  haughty  If 
The  patriotism  of  an  enlarged  and  generous  mind  can- 
not, surely,  depend  upon  the  early  contempt  inspired  for 
foreign  nations. — We  do  not  speak  of  the  education 
necessary  for  naval  and  military  men — with  this  we 
have  nothing  to  do ;  but  surely  it  cannot  be  necessary 
to  teach  national  prejudices  to  any  other  class  of  young 
men.  If  these  prejudices  are  ridiculed  by  sensible  pa- 
rents, children  will  not  be  misled  by  partial  authors ; 
general  assertions  will  be  of  little  consequence  to  those 
who  are  taught  to  reason ;  they  will  not  be  overawed 
by  nonsense  wherever  they  may  meet  with  it. 

The  words  whig  and  tory  occur  frequently  in  Eng- 
lish history,  and  liberty  and  tyranny  are  talked  of  tho 

*  Guthrie's  Geographical,  Historical,  and  Commercial  Grammar 
page  186.  t  Guthrie,  page  398. 


264  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

influence  of  the  crown — the  rights  of  the  people.  What 
are  children  of  eight  or  nine  years  old  to  understand  by 
these  expressions  \  and  how  can  a  tutor  explain  them 
without  inspiring  political  prejudices  1  We  do  not  mean 
here  to  enter  into  any  political  discussion;  we  think 
that  children  should  not  be  taught  the  principles  of  their 
preceptors,  whatever  they  may  be ;  they  should  judge 
for  themselves ;  and,  until  they  are  able  to  judge,  all 
discussion,  all  explanations,  should  be  scrupulously 
avoided.  While  they  are  children,  the  plainest  chroni- 
cles are  for  them  the  best  histories,  because  they  ex- 
press no  political  tenets  and  dogmas.  When  our  pupils 
grow  up,  at  whatever  age  they  may  be  capable  of  un- 
derstanding them,  the  best  authors  who  have  written  on 
each  side  of  the  question,  the  best  works,  without  any 
party  considerations,  should  be  put  into  their  hands  ;  and 
let  them  form  their  own  opinions  from  facts  and  argu- 
ments, uninfluenced  by  .passion,  and  uncontrolled  by 
authority. 

As  young  people  increase  their  collection  of  historic 
facts,  some  arrangement  will  be  necessary  to  preserve 
these  in  proper  order  in  the  memory.  Priestley's  Bio- 
graphical Chart  is  an  extremely  ingenious  contrivance 
for  this  purpose ;  it  should  hang  up  in  the  room  where 
children  read,  or  rather  where  they  live;  for  we  hope 
no  room  will  ever  be  dismally  consecrated  to  their 
studies.  Whenever  they  hear  any  celebrated  name 
mentioned,  or  when  they  meet  with  any  in  books,  they 
will  run  to  search  for  these  names  in  the  biographical 
chart ;  and  those  who  are  used  to  children  will  per- 
ceive, that  the  pleasure  of  this  search,  and  the  joy  of  the 
discovery,  will  fix  biography  and  chronology  easily  in 
their  memories.  Mortimer's  Student's  Dictionary,  and 
Brooke's  Gazetteer,  should,  in  a  library  or  room  which 
children  usually  inhabit,  be  always  within  the  reach  of 
children.  If  they  are  always  consulted  at  the  very  mo- 
ment they  are  wanted,  much  may  be  learned  from 
them  ;  but  if  there  be  any  difficulty  in  getting  at  these 
dictionaries,  children  forget,  and  lose  all  interest  in  the 
things  which  they  wanted  to  know.  But  if  knowledge 
becomes  immediately  useful  or  entertaining  to  them, 
there  is  no  danger  of  their  forgetting.  Who  ever  for- 
gets Shakspeare's  historical  plays  ?  The  arrangements 
contrived  and  executed  by  others  do  not  always  fix 
things  so  firmly  in  our  remembrance  as  those  which 


BOOKS.  265 

we  have  had  sonic  share  in  contriving  and  executing 
ourselves. 

One  of  our  pupils  has  drawn  out  a  biographical  chart 
upon  the  plan  of  Priestley's,  inserting  such  names  only 
as  he  was  well  acquainted  with ;  he  found  that  in  draw- 
ing out  this  chart,  a  great  portion  of  general  history  and 
biography  was  fixed  in  his  memory.  Charts,  in  the 
form  of  Priestley's,  but  without  the  names  of  the  he- 
roes, &c.  being  inserted,  would,  perhaps,  be  useful  for 
schools  and  private  families. 

There  are  two  French  historical  works  which  we 
wish  were  well  translated  for  the  advantage  of  those 
who  do  not  understand  French.  The  Chevalier  Me- 
heghan's  Tableau  de  1'Histoire  Moderne,  which  is  sensi- 
bly divided  into  epochs ;  and  Condillac's  View  of  Uni- 
versal History,  comprised  in  five  volumes,  in  his  "  Cours 
d'Etude  pour  Vlnstruction  du  Prince  de  Parma."  This 
history  carries  on,  along  with  the  records  of  wars  and 
revolutions,  the  history  of  the  progress  of  the  human 
mind,  of  arts,  and  sciences ;  the  view  of  the  different 
governments  of  Europe  is  full  and  concise  ;  no  preju- 
dices are  instilled,  yet  the  manly  and  rational  eloquence 
of  virtue  gives  life  and  spirit  to  the  work.  The  con- 
cluding address,  from  the  preceptor  to  his  royal  pupil, 
is  written  with  all  the  enlightened  energy  of  a  man  of 
truth  and  genius.  We  do  not  recommend  Condillac's 
history  as  an  elementary  work ;  for  this  it  is  .by  no 
means  fit;  but  it  is  one  of  the  best  histories, that  a 
young  man  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  can  read. 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  conceive,  that  several  trea- 
tises on  grammar,  the  art  of  reasoning,  thinking,  and 
writing,  which  are  contained  in  M.  Condillac's  course 
of  study,  were  designed  by  him  for  elementary  books, 
for  the  instruction  of  a  child  from  seven  to  ten  years 
old.  It  appears  the  more  surprising  that  the  abbe  should 
have  so  far  mistaken  the  capacity  of  childhood,  because, 
in  his  judicious  preface,  he  seems  fully  sensible  of  the 
danger  of  premature  cultivation,  and  of  the  absurdity  of 
substituting  a  knowledge  of  words  for  a  knowledge  of 
things.  As  M.  Condillac's  is  a  work  of  high  reputation, 
we  may  be  allowed  to  make  a  few  remarks  on  its  prac- 
tical utility ;  and  this  may,  perhaps,  afford  us  an  oppor- 
tunity of  explaining  our  ideas^upon  the  use  of  meta- 
physical, poetical,  and  critical  works,  in  early  educa- 
tion We  do  not  mean  any  invidious  criticism  upon 
23 


266  PRACTICAL     KDtTCATION. 

Condillac,  but  in  "  Practical  Education"  we  wish  to  take 
our  examples  and  illustrations  from  real  life.  The 
abbe's  course  of  study,  for  a  boy  of  seven  years  old,  be- 
gins with  metaphysics.  In  his  preface  he  asserts,  that 
the  arts  of  speaking,  reasoning,  and  writing,  differ  from 
one  another  only  in  degrees  of  accuracy,  and  in  the 
more  or  less  perfect  connexion  of  ideas.  He  observes, 
that  attention  to  the  manner  in  which  we  acquire  and 
in  which  we  arrange  our  knowledge,  is  equally  neces- 
sary to  those  who  would  learn  and  to  those  who  would 
teach,  with  success.  These  remarks  are  just ;  but  does 
not  he  draw  an  erroneous  conclusion  from  his  own 
principles,  when  he  infers,  that  the  first  lessons  which 
we  should  teach  a  child  ought  to  be  metaphysical  ?  He 
has  given  us  an  abstract  of  those  which  he  calls  pre- 
liminary lessons,  on  the  operations  of  the  soul,  on  at- 
tention, judgment,  imagination,  &c. — he  adds,  that  he 
thought  it  useless  to  give  to  the  public  the  conversa- 
tions and  explanations  which  he  had  with  his  pupil  on 
these  subjects.  Both  parents  and  children  must  regret 
the  suppression  of  these  explanatory  notes  ;  as  the  les- 
sons appear  at  present,  no  child  of  seven  years  old  can 
understand,  and  few  preceptors  can  or  will  make  them 
what  they  ought  to  be.  In  the  first  lesson  on  the  differ- 
ent species  of  ideas,  the  abbe  says, 

"  The  idea,  for  instance,  which  I  have  of  Peter,  is  sin 
gular,  or  individual;  and  as  the  idea  of  man  is  general 
relatively  to  the  ideas  of  a  nobleman  and  a  citizen,  it  is 
particular  as  it  relates  to  the  idea  of  animal."* 

"  Relatively  to  the  ideas  of  a  nobleman  and  a  citizen." 
What  a  long  explanation  upon  these  words  there  must 
have  been  between  the  abbe  and  the  prince  !  The  whole 
view  of  society  must  have  been  opened  at  once,  or  the 
prince  must  have  swallowed  prejudices  and  metaphysics 
together.  To  make  these  things  familiar  to  a  child, 
Condillac  says  that  we  must  bring  a  few  or  many  ex- 
amples ;  but  where  shall  we  find  examples  ?  Where 
shall  we  find  proper  words  to  express  to  a  child  ideas  of 
political  relations  mingled  with  metaphysical  subtleties  1 

Through  this  whole  chapter  on  particular  and  gen- 
eral ideas,  the  abbe  is  secretly  intent  upon  a  dispute  be- 

*"  L'idee,  par  exemple,  que  i'ai  de  Pierre,  est  singuliere  ou  indi- 
viduelle,  et  comme  Pidee  d'hohime  est  generale  par  rapport  aux 
idees  de  noble  etde  roturier,  elle  est  particuli&re  par  rapport  a  Pidee 
d'animal."-' Legons  Preliminaries,  vol.  i.  p.  43 


BOOKS  267 

gun  or  revived  in  the  thirteenth  century,  and  not  yet 
finished,  between  the  Nominalists  and  the  Realists  ;  but 
a  child  knows  nothing  of  this. 

In  the  article  "  On  the  Power  of  Thinking,"  an  article 
which  he  acknowledges  to  be  a  little  difficult,  he  ob- 
serves, that  the  great  point  is  to  make  the  child  com- 
prehend what  is  meant  by  attention ;  "  for  as  soon  as 
he  understands  that,  all  the  rest,"  he  assures  us,  "  will 
be  easy."  Is  it  then  of  less  consequence  that  the  child 
should  learn  the  habit  of  attention,  than  that  he  should 
learn  the  meaning  of  the  word  ]  Granting,  however, 
that  the  definition  of  this  word  is  of  consequence,  that 
definition  should  be  made  proportionably  clear.  The 
tutor,  at  least,  must  understand  it,  before  he  can  hope 
to  explain  it  to  his  pupil.  Here  it  is : 

"  *  *  *  when  among  many  sensations  which  you 
experience  at  the  same  time,  the  direction  of  the  organs 
makes  you  take  notice  of  one,  so  that  you  do  not  ob- 
serve the  others  any  longer,  this  sensation  becomes 
what  we  call  attention* 

This  is  not  accurate ;  it  is  not  clear  whether  the  di- 
rection of  the  organs  be  the  cause  or  the  effect  of  at- 
tention ;  or  whether  it  be  only  a  concomitant  of  the 
sensation.  Attention,  we  know,  can  be  exercised  upon 
abstract  ideas  ;  for  this  objection  M.  Condillac  has  after- 
ward a  provisional  clause,  but  the  original  definition 
remains  defective,  because  the  direction  of  the  organs 
is  not,  though  it  be  stated  as  such,  essential ;  besides, 
we  are  told  only,  that  the  sensation  described  becomes 
(devient)  what  we  call  attention.  What  attention  actu- 
ally is,  we  are  still  left  to  discover.  The  matter  is 
made  yet  more  difficult ;  for  when  we  are  just  fixed  in 
the  belief  that  attention  depends  "  upon  our  remarking 
one  sensation,  and  not  remarking  others  which  we  may 
have  at  the  same  time,"  we  are  in  the  next  chapter  given 
to  understand,  that  "  in  comparison  we  may  have  a  dou- 
ble attention,  or  two  attentions,  which  are  only  two  sen- 
sations, which  make  themselves  be  taken  notice  of 
equally ;  and  consequently  comparison  consists  only  of 
sensations."! 

;  *  Ainsi  iorsque,  de  plusiers  sensations  qui  se  font  en  meme  temps 
sur  vous,  la  direction  des  organs  vous  en  fait  remarquer  urje,  de  ma- 
niere  que  vous  ne  remarquez  plus  les  autres,  cette  sensation  devient 
ce  que  nous  appellons  attention." — Lemons  Preliminaries,  p.  46. 
f  "  La  Comparaison  n'est  done  qu'une  double  attention.    Nous  ve- 
M2 


268  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

The  doctrine  of  simultaneous  ideas  here  glides  in, 
and  we  concede  unawares  all  that  is  necessary  to  the 
abbe's  favourite  system,  "  that  sensation  becomes  suc- 
cessively attention,  memory,  comparison,  judgment,  and 
reflection  ;*  and  that  the  art  of  reasoning  is  reducible 
to  a  series  of  identic  propositions."  Without,  at  pres- 
ent, attempting  to  examine  this  system,  we  may  ob- 
serve, that  in  education  it  is  more  necessary  to  preserve 
the  mind  from  prejudice,  than  to  prepare  it  for  the  adop- 
tion of  any  system.  Those  who  have  attended  to  met- 
aphysical proceedings  know,  that  if  a  few  apparently 
trifling  concessions  be  made  in  the  beginning  of  the 
business,  a  man  of  ingenuity  may  force  us,  in  the  end, 
to  acknowledge  whatever  he  pleases.  It  is  impossible 
that  a  child  can  foresee  these  consequences,  nor  is  it 
probable  that  he  should  have  paid  such  accurate  atten- 
tion to  the  operations  of  his  own  mind,  as  to  be  able  to 
detect  the  fallacy,  or  to  feel  the  truth,  of  his  tutor's  as- 
sertions. A  metaphysical  catechism  may  readily  be 
taught  to  children ;  they  may  learn  to  answer  almost 
as  readily  as  Trenck  answered  in  his  sleep  to  the  guards 
who  regularly  called  to  him  every  night  at  midnight. 
Children  may  answer  expertly  to  the  questions,  "  What 
is  attention  1  What  is  memory  *  What  is  imagination  ? 
What  is  the  difference  between  wit  and  judgment  1  How 
many  sorts  of  ideas  have  you,  and  which  are  they  ?" 
But  when  they  are  perfect  in  their  responses  ^to  all  these 
questions,  how  much  are  they  advanced  in  real  knowl- 
edge? 

Allegory  has  mixed  with  metaphysics  almost  as  much 
as  with  poetry  ;  personifications  of  memory  and  imagi- 
nation are  familiar  to  us ;  to  each  have  been  addressed 
odes  and  sonnets,  so  that  we  almost  believe  in  their 
individual  existence,  or  at  least  we  are  become  jealous 
of  the  separate  attributes  of  these  ideal  beings.  This 
metaphysical  mythology  may  be  ingenious  and  elegant, 
but  it  is  better  adapted  to  the  pleasures  of  poetry  than 
to  the  purposes  of  reasoning.  Those  who  have  been 
accustomed  to  respect  and  "believe  in  it,  will  find  it  diffi- 
cult soberly  to  examine  any  argument  upon  abstract 

nons  de  voir  que  Fattention  n'est  qu'une  sensation  qui  se  fait  remar- 
quer.     Deux  attentions  ne  sont  done  que  deux  sensations  remarqaer 
egalement ;  et  par  consequence  il  n'y  a  dans  la  comparaison  que  des 
sensations." — Legons  Preliminaries,  p.  47. 
*  See  Art  de  Penser,  p.  324. 


BOOKS.  269 

subjects  ;  their  favourite  prejudices  will  retard  them, 
when  they  attempt  to  advance  in  the  art  of  reasoning. 
All  accurate  metaphysical  reasoners  have  perceived 
and  deplored  the  difficulties  which  the  prepossessions 
of  education  have  thrown  in  their  way  ;  and  they  have 
been  obliged  to  waste  their  time  and  powers  in  fruitless 
attempts  to  vanquish  these  in  their  own  minds,  or  in 
those  of  their  readers.  Can  we  wish  in  education  to 
perpetuate  similar  errors,  and  to  transmit  to  another 
generation  the  same  artificial  imbecility  ?  Or  can  we 
avoid  these  evils,  if  with  our  present  habits  of  thinking 
and  speaking,  we  attempt  to  teach  metaphysics  to  chil- 
dren of  seven  years  old  1 

A  well-educated,  intelligent  young  man,  accustomed 
to  accurate  reasoning,  yet  brought  up  without  any  met- 
aphysical prejudices,  would  be  a  treasure  to  a  meta- 
physician to  cross-examine  :  he  would  be  eager  to  hear 
the  unprejudiced  youth's  evidence,  as  the  monarch,  who 
had  ordered  a  child  to  be  shut  up,  without  hearing  one 
word  of  any  human  language,  from  infancy  to  manhood, 
was  impatient  to  hear  what  would  be  the  first  word  that 
he  uttered.  But  though  we  wish  extremely  well  to  the 
experiments  of  metaphysicians,  we  are  more  intent  upon 
the  advantage  which  our  unprejudiced  pupils  would 
themselves  derive  from  their  judicious  education  :  prob- 
ably they  would,  coming  fresh  to  the  subject,  make  some 
discoveries  in  the  science  of  metaphysics :  they  would 
have  no  paces*  to  show ;  perhaps  they  might  advance 
a  step  or  two  on  this  difficult  ground. 

When  we  object  to  the  early  initiation  of  novices  into 
metaphysical  mysteries,  we  only  recommend  it  to  pre- 
ceptors not  to  teach;  let  pupils  learn  whatever  they 
please,  or  whatever  they  can,  without  reading  any  met- 
aphysical books,  and  without  hearing  any  opinions,  or 
learning  any  definitions  by  rote  ;  children  may  reflect 
upon  their  own  feelings,  and  they  should  be  encouraged 
to  make  accurate  observations  upon  their  own  minds. 
Sensible  children  will  soon,  for  instance,  observe  the 
effect  of  habit,  which  enables  them  to  repeat  actions 
with  ease  and  facility,  which  they  have  frequently  per- 
formed. The  association  of  ideas,  as  it  assists  them  to 
remember  particular  things,  will  soon  be  noticed,  though 
not,  perhaps,  in  scientific  words.  The  use  of  the  asso- 

*  See  Dunoiad, 


270  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

elation  of  pain  or  pleasure,  in  the  form  of  what  we  call 
reward  and  punishment,  may  probably  be  early  per- 
ceived. Children  will  be  delighted  with  these  discov- 
eries if  .they  are  suffered  to  make  them,  and  they  will 
apply  this  knowledge  in  their  own  education.  Trifling 
daily  events  will  recall  their  observations,  and  experi- 
ence will  confirm  or  correct  their  juvenile  theories. 
But  if  metaphysical  books  or  dogmas  are  forced  upon 
children  in  the  form  of  lessons,  they  will,  as  such,  be 
learned  by  rote,  and  forgotten. 

To  prevent  parents  from  expecting  as  much  as  the 
Abbe  Gondillac  does  from  the  comprehension  of  pupils 
of  six  or  seven  years  old  upon  abstract  subjects,  and  to 
enable  preceptors  to  form  some  idea  of  the  perfect  sim- 
plicity in  which  children,  unprejudiced  upon  metaphysi- 
cal questions,  would  express  themselves,  we  give  the 
folio  wing  little  dialogues,  word  for  word,  as  they  passed : 
1780.  Father.  Where  do  you  think  1 

A .  (Six  and  a  half  years  old.)     In  my  mouth. 

Ho .  (Five  years  and  a  half  old.)     In  my  stomach. 

Father.  Where  do  you  feel  that  you  are  glad  or  sorry  ? 

A .  In  my  stomach. 

Ho .  In  my  eyes. 

Father.  What  are  your  senses  for  1 

Ho .  To  know  things. 

Without  any  previous  conversation,  Ho (five  years 

and  a  half  old)  said  to  her  mother,  "  I  think  you  will  be 
glad  my  right  foot  is  sore,  because  you  told  me  I  did  not 
lean  enough  upon  my  left  foot."  This  child  seemed,  on 
many  occasions,  to  have  formed  an  accurate  idea  of  the 
use  of  punishment,  considering  it  always  as  pain  given 
to  cure  us  of  some  fault,  or  to  prevent  us  from  suffering 
more  pain  in  future. 

April,  1792.  H ,  a  boy  nine  years  and  three  quar- 
ters old,  as  he  was  hammering  at  a  work-bench,  paused 
for  a  short  time,  and  then  said  to  his  sister,  who  was  in 
the  room  with  him,  "  Sister,  I  observe  that  when  I  don't 
look  at  my  right  hand  when  I  hammer,  and  only  think 
where  it  ought  to  hit,  I  can  hammer  much  better  than 
when  I  look  at  it.  I  don't  know  what  the  reason  of  that 
is ;  unless  it  is  because  I  think  in  my  head." 

M .  I  am  not  sure,  but  I  believe  that  we  do  think 

in  our  heads. 

H .  Then,  perhaps,  my  head  is  divided  into  two 

parts,  and  that  one  thinks  for  one  arm,  and  one  for  the 


BOOKS.  271 

other  ;  so  that  when  1  want  to  strike  with  my  right  arm, 
I  think  where  I  want  to  hit  the  wood,  and  then,  without 
looking  at  it,  I  can  move  my  arm  in  the  right  direction : 
as  when  my  father  is  going  to  write,  he  sometimes 
sketches  it. 

M .  What  do  you  mean,  my  dear,  by  sketching  it "? 

H .  Why,  when  he  moves  his  hand  (flourishes) 

without  touching  the  paper  with  the  pen.  And  at  first, 
when  I  want  to  do  any  thing,  I  cannot  move  my  hand 
as  I  mean ;  but  after  being  used  to  it,  then  I  can  do  much 
better.  I  don't  know  why. 

After  going  on  hammering  for  some  time,  he  stopped 
again,  and  said,  "  There's  another  thing  I  wanted  to  tell 
you.  Sometimes  I  think  to  myself,  that  it  is  right  to 
think  of  things  that  are  sensible  ;  and  then  when  I  want 
to  set  about  thinking  of  things  that  are  sensible,  I  cannot; 
I  can  only  think  of  that  over  and  over  again." 

Af .  You  can  only  think  of  what  '\ 

H .  Of  those  words.  They  seem  to  be  said  to  me 

over  and  over  again,  till  I'm  quite  tired,  "  That  it  is  right 
to  think  of  things  that  have  some  sense." 

The  childish  expressions  in  these  remarks  have  not 
been  altered,  because  we  wished  to  show  exactly  how 
children  at  this  age  express  their  thoughts.  If  M.  Con- 
dillac  had  been  used  to  converse  with  children,  he  surely 
would  not  have  expected  that  any  boy  of  seven  years 
old  could  understand  his  definition  of  attention,  and  his 
metaphysical  preliminary  lessons. 

After  these  preliminary  lessons,  we  have  a  sketch  of 
the  Prince  of  Parma's  subsequent  studies.  M.  Condil- 
lac  says,  that  his  royal  highness  (being  not  yet  eight 
years  old)  was  now  "  perfectly  well  acquainted  with  the 
system  of  intellectual  operations.  He  comprehended 
already  the  production  of  his  ideas  ;  he  saw  the  origin 
and  the  progress  of  the  habits  which  he  had  contracted, 
and  he  perceived  how  he  could  substitute  just  ideas  for 
the  false  ones  which  had  been  given  to  him,  and  good 
habits  instead  of  the  bad  habits  which  he  had  been  suf- 
fered to  acquire.  He  had  become  so  quickly  famihar 
with  all  these  things,  that  he  retraced  their  connexion 
without  effort,  quite  playfully."* 

*  Motif  des  etudes  qui  ont  e*te  faitcs  apres  Legons  Prelimmaires, 
p.  €7.  Le  jeune  prince  connoissoit  deja  la  syste'me  des  operations 
de  son  ame,  il  comprenoit  la  generation  de  ses  idees,  il  voyoit  1'ori- 


272  PRACTICAL 

This  prince  must  have  been  n  prodigy !  After  having 
made  him  reflect  upon  his  own  infancy,"  the  abbe  judged 
that  the  infancy  of  the  world  would  appear  to  his  pupil 
"  the  most  curious  subject,  and  the  most  easy  to  study." 
The  analogy  between  these  two  infancies  seems  to  ex- 
ist chiefly  in  words ;  it  is  not  easy  to  gratify  a  child's 
curiosity  concerning  the  infancy  of  the  world  Ex- 
tracts from  L'Origine  des  Loix,  by  M.  Goguet,  with  ex 
planatory  notes,  were  put  into  the  prince's  hands>  to  in- 
form him  of  what  happened. in  the  commencement  of 
society.  These  were  his  evening  studies.  In  the  morn- 
ings he  read  the  French  poets,  Boileau,  Moliere,  Cor- 
neille,  and  Racine.  Racine,  as  we  are  particularly  in- 
formed, was,  in  the  space  of  one  year,  read  over  a 
dozen  times.  Wretched  prince  !  Unfortunate  Racine  ! 
The  abbe  acknowledges,  that  at  first  these  authors  were 
not  understood  with  the  same  ease  as  the  preliminary 
lessons  had  been  :  every  word  stopped  the  prince,  and 
it  seemed  as  if  every  line  were  written  in  an  unknown 
language.  This  is  not  surprising;  for  how  is  it  possible 
that  a  boy  of  seven  or  eight  years  old,  who  could  know 
nothing  of  life  and  manners,  could  taste  the  wit  and 
humour  of  Moliere ;  and,  incapable  as  he  must  have 
been  of  sympathy  with  the  violent  passions  of  tragic 
heroes  and  heroines,  how  could  he  admire  the  lofty 
dramas  of  Racine  ?  We  are  willing  to  suppose  that 
the  young  Prince  of  Parma  was  quick,  and  well-in- 
formed for  his  age  ;  but  to  judge  of  what  is  practicable, 
we  must  produce  examples  from  common  life,  instead 
of  prodigies. 

S ,  a  boy  of  nine  years  old,  of  whose  abilities  the 

reader  will  be  able  to  form  some  judgment  from  anec- 
dotes in  the  following  pages,  whose  understanding  was 
not  wholly  uncultivated,  when  he  was  between  nine 
and  ten  years  old,  expressed  a  wish  to  read  some  of 
Shakspeare's  plays.  King  John  was  given  to  him. 
After  the  book  had  been  before  him  for  one  winter's 
evening,  he  returned  it  to  his  father,  declaring  that  he 
did  not  understand  one  word  of  the  play  ;  he  could  not 

gine  et  le  progr&s  des  habitudes  qu'il  avoit  coRtractees,  et  il  conce 
voit  comment  il  pouvoit  substituer  des  idees  justes  aux  idees  fausses 
qu'on  lui  avoit  donn6es,  et  de  bonnes  habitudes  aux  mauvaises 
qu'on  lui  avoit  laisse  prendre.  II  s'^toit  familiarise  si  promptement 
avec  toutes  ces  choses,  qu'il  s'en  retra<;oit  la  suite  sans  effort,  et 
comme  en.  badinant. 


BOOKS.  273 

make  out  what  the  people  were  about,  and  he  did  not 

wish  to  read  any  more   of  it.     His  brother  H ,  at 

twelve  years  old,  had  made  an  equally  ineffectual  at- 
tempt to  read  Shakspeare  ;  he  was  also  equally  decided 
and  honest  in  expressing-  his  dislike  to  it ;  he  was  much 

surprised  at  seeing  his  sister  B ,  who  was  a  year  or 

two  older  than  himself,  reading  Shakspeare  with  great 
avidity ;  and  he  frequently  asked  what  it  was  in  that 
book  that  could  entertain  her.  Two  years  afterward, 

when  H was  between  fourteen  and  fifteen,  he  made 

another  trial ;  and  he  found  that  he  understood  the  lan- 
guage of  Shakspeare  without  any  difficulty.  He  read 
all  the  historical  plays  with  the  greatest  eagerness,  and 
particularly  seized  the  character  of  Falstaff.  He  gave 
a  humorous  description  of  the  figure  and  dress  which 
he  supposed  Sir  John  should  have,  of  his  manner  of 

sitting,  speaking,  and  walking.     Probably,  if  H had 

been  pressed  to  read  Shakspeare  at  the  time  when  he 
did  not  understand  it,  he  might  never  have  read  these 
plays  with  real  pleasure  during  his  whole  life.  Two 
years  increase  prodigiously  the  vocabulary  and  the  ideas 
of  young  people;  and  preceptors  should  consider,  that 
what  we  call  literary  taste  cannot  be.  formed  without  a 
variety^)f  knowledge.  The  productions  of  our  ablest 
writers  cannot  please  until  we  are  familiarized  to  the 
ideas  which  they  contain,  or  to  which  they  allude.* 

Poetry  is  usually  supposed  to  be  well  suited  to  the 
taste  and  capacity  of  children.  In  the  infancy  of  taste 
and  of  eloquence,  rhetorical  language  is  constantly  ad- 
mired ;  the  bold  expression  of  strong  feeling,  and  the 
simple  description  of  the  beauties  of  nature,  are  found 
to  interest  both  cultivated  and  uncultivated  minds.  To 
understand  descriptive  poetry,  no  previous  knowledge 
is  required,  beyond  what  common  observation  and  sym- 
pathy supply  ;  the  analogies  and  transitions  of  thought 
are  slight  and  obvious  ;  no  labour  of  attention  is  de- 
manded, no  active  effort  of  the  mind  is  requisite  to  fol- 
low them.  The  pleasures  of  simple  sensation  are,  by 
descriptive  poetry,  recalled  to  the  imagination  ;  and  we 
live  over  again  our  past  lives  without  increasing,  and  ' 

*  As  this  page  was  sent  over  tb  us  for  correction,  we  seize  the 
opportunity  of  expressing  our  wish,  that  "  Botanical  Dialogues,  by 
a  Lady,"  had  come  sooner  to  our  hands  ;  it  contains  much  that  we 
think  peculiarly  valuable. 

M  3 


274  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

without  desiring  to  increase,  our  stock  of  knowledge. 
If  these  observations  be  just,  there  must  appear  many 
reasons  why  even  that, species  of  poetry  which  they  can 
understand,  should  not  be  the  early  study  of  children; 
from  time  to  time  it  may  be  an  agreeable  amusement,  but 
it  should  not  become  a  part  of  their  daily  occupations. 
We  do  not  want  to  retrace  perpetually  in  their  mem- 
ories a  few  musical  words,  or  a  few  simple  sensations ; 
our  object  is  to  enlarge  the  sphere  of  our  pupil's  ca- 
pacity, to  strengthen  the  habits  of  attention,  and  to  ex- 
ercise all  the  powers  of  the  mind.  The  inventive  and 
the  reasoning  faculties  must  be  injured  by  the  repetition 
of  vague  expressions,  and  of  exaggerated  description, 
with  which  most  poetry  abounds.  Childhood  is  the 
season  for  observation,  and  those  who  observe  ac- 
curately will  afterward  be  able  to  describe  accurately  : 
but  those  who  merely  read  descriptions,  can  present  us 
with  nothing  but  the  pictures  of  pictures.  We  have 
reason  to  believe  that  children  who  have  not  been 
accustomed  to  read  a  vast  deal  of  poetry  are  not,  for 
that  reason,  less  likely  to  excel  in  poetic  language. 
The  reader  will  judge  from  the  following  explanation  of 
Gray's  Hymn  to  Adversity,  that  the  boy  to  whom  they 
were  addressed  was  not  much  accustomed  to  read  even 
the  most  popular  English  poetry ;  yet  this  is  tffe  same 
child  who,  a  few  months  afterward,  wrote  the  transla- 
tion from  Ovid  of  the  Cave  of  Sleep,  and  who  gave 
the  extempore  description  of  a  summer's  evening  in 
tolerably  good  language. 

Jan.  1796. •  S (nine  years  old)  learned  by  heart 

the  Hymn  to  Adversity.  When  he  came  to  repeat  this 
poem,  he  did  not  repeat  it  well,  and  he  had  it  not  per- 
fectly by  heart.  His  father  suspected  that  he  did  not 
understand  it,  and  he  examined  him  with  some  care. 

Father.  "  Purple  tyrants  !"     Why  purple  ? 

S .  Because  purple  is  a  colour  something  like  red 

and  black  ;  and  tyrants  look  red  and  black. 

Father.  No.  Kings  were  formerly  called  tyrants,  and 
they  wore  purple  robes  :  the  purple  of  the  ancients  is 
supposed  to  be  not  the  colour  which  we  call  purple,  but 
that  which  we  call  scarlet. 

"  When  first,  thy  sire  to  send  on  earth 
Virtue,  his  darling  child,  design'd, 
To  thee  he  gave  the  heavenly  birth, 
And  bade  to  form  her  infant  mind." 


BOOKS.  275 

When  S was  asked  who  was  meant  in  these  lines 

by  "  thy  sire,"  he  frowned  terribly  ;  but  after  some  de- 
liberation, he  discovered  that  "  thy  sire"  meant  Jove, 
the  father,  or  sire  of  Adversity  :  still  he  was  extremely 
puzzled  with  "the  heavenly  birth."  First  he  thought 
that  the  heavenly  birth  was  the  birth  of  Adversity ;  but, 
upon  recollection,  the  heavenly  birth  was  to  be  trusted 
to  Adversity,  therefore  she  could  not  be  trusted  with 

the  care  of  herself.     S at  length  discovered,  that 

Jove  must  have  had  two  daughters;  and  he  said  he  sup- 
posed that  Virtue  must  have  been  one  of  these  daugh- 
ters, and  that  she  must  have  been  sister  to  Adversity, 
who  was  to  be  her  nurse,  and  who  was  to  form  her  infant 
mind :  he  now  perceived  that  the  expression,  "  Stern, 
rugged  nurse,"  referred  to  Adversity  ;  before  this,  he 
said  he  did  not  know  whom  it  meant,  whose  "  rigid 
lore"  was  alluded  to  in  these  two  lines,  or  who  bore  it 
with  patience. 

"  Stern,  rugged  nurse,  thy  rigid  lore 
With  patience  many  a  year  she  bore." 

The  following  stanza  S repeated  a  second  time, 

as  if  he  did  not  understand  it. 

"  Scared  at  thy  frown  terrific  fly 
Self-pleasing  follies,  idle  brood, 
Wild  laughter,  noise,  and  thoughtless  joy, 
And  leave  us  leisure  to  be  good. 
Light  they  disperse,  and  with  them  go 
The  summer  friend,  the  flattering  foe  ; 
By  vain  prosperity  receiv'd, 
To  her  they  vow  their  truth,  and  are  again  believ'd." 

Father.  Why  does  the  poet  say  wild  laughter  ? 

<S .  It  means,  not  reasonable. 

Father.  Why  is  it  said, 

"  By  vain  prosperity  receiv'd, 
To  her  they  vow  their  truth,  and  are  again  believ'd  ?" 

S .  Because  the  people,  I  suppose,  when  they 

were  in  prosperity  before,  believed  them  before  ;  but 
I  think  that  seems  confused. 

"Oh,  gently  oA  thy  suppliant's  head, 
Dread  goddess,  lay  thy  chastening  hand." 

S did  not  seem  to  comprehend  the  first  of  these 


276  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

two  lines  ;  and  upon  cross-examination,  it  appeared  that 
he  did  not  know  the  meaning  of  the  word  suppliant ;  he 
thought  it  meant  "  a  person  who  supplies  us." 

"  Not  in  thy  Gorgon  terrors  clad, 
Nor  circled  by  the  vengeful  band, 
As  by  the  impious  thou  art  seen." 

It  may  appear  improbable,  that  a  child  who  did  not 
know  the  meaning  of  the  word  suppliant  should  under- 
stand the  Gorgon  terrors,  and  the  vengeful  band,  yet  it 

was  so:  S understood  these   lines  distinctly;  he 

said,  "  Gorgon  terrors,  yes,  like  the  head  of  Gorgon." 
He  was  at  this  time  translating  from  Ovid's  Metamor- 
phoses ;  and  it  happened  that  his  father  had  explained 
to  him  the  ideas  of  the  ancients  concerning  the  furies ; 
besides  this,  several  people  in  the  family  had  been  read- 
ing Potter's  jEschylus,  and  the  furies  had  been  the  sub- 
ject of  conversation.  From  such  accidental  circum- 
stances as  these,  children  often  appear,  in  the  same 
instant  almost,  to  be  extremely  quick  and  extremely 
slow  of  comprehension ;  a  preceptor  who  is  well  ac- 
quainted with  all  his  pupil's  previous  knowledge,  can 
rapidly  increase  his  stock  of  ideas  by  turning  every 
accidental  circumstance  to  account :  but  if  a  tutor  per- 
sists in  forcing  a  child  to  a  regular  course  of  study,  all 
his  ideas  must  be  collected,  not  as  they  are  wanted  in 
conversation  or  in  real  life,  but  as  they  are  wanted  to 
get  through  a  lesson  or  a  book.  It  is  not  surprising, 
that  M.  Condillac  found  such  long  explanations  neces- 
sary for  his  young  pupil  in  reading  the  tragedies  of  Ra- 
cine ;  he  says  that  he  was  frequently  obliged  to  trans- 
late the  poetry  into  prose,  and  frequently  the  prince 
could  gather  only  some  general  idea  of  the  whole 
drama,  without  understanding  the  parts.  We  cannot 
help  regretting,  that  the  explanations  have  not  been 
published  for  the  advantage  of  future  preceptors  ;  they 
must  have  been  almost  as  difficult  as  those  for  the  pre- 
liminary lessons.  As  we  are  convinced  that  the  art  of 
education  can  be  best  improved  by  the  registering  of 
early  experiments,  we  are  very  willing  to  expose  such 
as  have  been  made,  without  fear  of  fastidious  criticism 
or  ridicule. 

May  1,  1796.  A  little  poem,  called  "  The  Tears  of 
Old  May-day,"  published  in  the  second  volume  of  The 
World,  was  read  to  S .  Last  May-day  the  same 


BOOKS.  27? 

poem  had  been  read  to  him  ;  he  then  liked  it  much,  and 
his  father  wished  to  see  what  effect  it  would  have  upon 
this  second  reading.  The  pleasure  of  novelty  was  worn 

off,  but  S felt  new  pleasure  from  his  having,  during 

the  last  year,  acquired  a  great  number  of  new  ideas,  and 
especially  some  knowledge  of  ancient  mythology,  which 
enabled  Jhim  to  understand  several  allusions  in  the  poem 
which  had  before  been  unintelligible  to  him.  He  had 
become  acquainted  with  the  muses, the  graces,  Cynthia, 
Philomel,  Astrea,  who  are  all  mentioned  in  this  poem ; 
he  now  knew  something  about  the  Hesperian  fruit,  Amal- 
thea's  horn,  choral  dances,  Libyan  Ammon,  &c.,  which 
are  alluded  to  in  different  lines  of  the  poem  :  he  remem- 
bered the  explanation  which  his  father  had  given  him 
the  preceding  year,  of  a  line  which  alludes  to  the  island 
of  Atalantis: 

'•  Then  vanished  many  a  sea-girt  isle  and  grove, 
Their  forests  floating  on  the  wat'ry  plain : 
Then  famed  for  arts,  and  laws  deriv'd  from  Jove, 
My  Atalantis  sunk  beneath  the  main." 

S ,  whose  imagination  had  been  pleased  with  the 

idea  of  the  fabulous  island  of  Atalantis,  recollected  what 
he  had  heard  of  it ;  but  he  had  forgotten  the  explanation 
of  another  stanza  of  this  poem,  which  he  had  heard  at 
the  same  time : 

"  To  her  no  more  Augusta's  wealthy  pride, 
Pours  the  full  tribute  from  Potosi's  mine  ; 
Nor  fresh-blown  garlands  village  maids  provide, 
A  purer  offering  at  her  rustic  shrine." 

S forgot  that  he  had  been  told  that  London  was 

formerly  called  Augusta ;  that  Potosi's  mines  contained 
silver ;  and  that  pouring  the  tribute  from  Potosi's  mines, 
alludes  to  the  custom  of  hanging  silver  tankards  upon 
the  Maypoles  in  London  on  May-day ;  consequently 
the  beauty  of  this  stanza  was  entirely  lost  upon  him. 

A  few  circumstances  were  now  told  to  S ,  which 

imprinted  the  explanation  effectually  in  his  memory: 
his  father  told  him  that  the  publicans,  or  those  who 
keep  public  houses  in  London,  make  it  a  custom  to  lend 
their  silver  tankards  to  the  poor  chimney-sweepers  and 
milkmaids,  who  go  in  procession  through  the  streets  on 
May-day.  The  confidence  that  is  put  in  the  honesty  of 
these  poor  people  pleased  S ,  and  all  these  circum- 
stances fixed  the  principal  idea  more  firmly  in  his  mind. 
24 


278  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

The  following  lines  could  please  him  only  by  their 
sound,  the  first  time  he  heard  them  : 

"  Ah !  once  to  fame  and  bright  dominion  born, 
The  earth  and  smiling  ocean  saw  me  rise, 
With  time  coeval,  and  the  star  of  morn, 
The  first,  the  fairest  daughter  of  the  skies. 

"  Then,  when  at  heaven's  prolific  mandate  sprung 

The  radiant  beam  of  new-created  day, 
Celestial  harps,  to  airs  of  triumph  strung, 
Hail'd  the  glad  dawn,  and  angels  call'd  me  May. 

"  Space  in  her  empty  regions  heard  the  sound, 

And  hills  and  dales,  and  rocks  and  valleys  rung  ; 
The  sun  exulted  in  his  glorious  round, 
And  shouting  planets  in  their  courses  sung." 

The  idea  which  the  ancients  had  of  the  music  of  the 

spheres  was  here  explained  to  S ,  and  some  general 

notion  was  given  to  him  of  the  harmonic  numbers. 

What  a  number  of  new  ideas  this  little  poem  served  to 
introduce  into  the  mind!  These  explanations  being 
given  precisely  at  the  time  when  they  were  wanted, 
fixed  the  ideas  in  the  memory  in  their  proper  places, 
and  associated  knowledge  with  the  pleasures  of  poetry. 
Some  of  the  effect  of  a  poem  must,  it  is  true,  be  lost  by 
interruptions  and  explanations ;  but  we  must  consider 
the  general  improvement  of  the  understanding,  and  not 
merely  the  cultivation  of  poetic  taste.  In  the  instance 
which  we  have  just  given,  the  pleasure  which  the  boy 
received  from  the  poem  seemed  to  increase  in  propor- 
tion to  the  exactness  with  which  it  was  explained.  The 
succeeding  year,  on  May-day,  1797,  the  same  poem  was 
read  to  him  for  the  third  time,  and  he  appeared  to  like 
it  better  than  he  had  done  upon  the  first  reading.  If, 
instead  of  perusing  Racine  twelve  times  in  one  year,  the 
young  Prince  of  Parma  had  read  any  one  play  or  scene 
at  different  periods  of  his  education,  and  had  been  led  to 
observe  the  increase  of  pleasure  which  he  felt  from 
being  able  to  understand  what  he  read  better  each  suc- 
ceeding time  than  before,  he  would  probably  have  im- 
proved more  rapidly  in  his  taste  for  poetry,  though  he 
might  not  have  known  Racine  by  rote  quite  so  early  as 
at  eight  years  old. 

We  considered  parents  almost  as  much  as  children, 
when  we  advised  that  a  great  deal  of  poetry  should  not 
be  read  by  very  young  pupils  ;  the  labour  and  difficulty 
of  explaining  it  can  be  known  only  to  those  who  have 


BOOKS.  279 

tried  the  experiment.  The  Elegy  in  a  Country  Church- 
yard is  one  of  the  most  popular  poems  which  is  usually 
given  to  children  to  learn  by  heart;  it  cost  at  least  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  to  explain  to  intelligent  children,  the 
youngest  of  whom  was  at  the  time  nine  years  old,  the 
first  stanza  of  that  elegy.  And  we  have  heard  it  asserted 
by  a  gentleman  not  unacquainted  with  literature,  that 
perfectly  to  understand  1'Allegro  and  II  Penseroso,  re- 
quires no  inconsiderable  portion  of  ancient  and  modern 
knowledge.  It  employed  several  hours  on  different 
days  to  read  and  explain  Comus,  so  as  to  make  it  intelli- 
gible to  a  boy  of  ten  years,  who  gave  his  utmost  atten- 
tion to  it.  The  explanations  on  this  poem  were  found 
to  be  so  numerous  and  intricate,  that  we  thought  it  best 
not  to  produce  them  here.  Explanations  which  are 
given  by  a  reader,  can  be  given  with  greater  rapidity 
and  effect,  than  any  which  a  writer  can  give  to  children : 
the  expression  of  the  countenance  is  advantageous,  the 
sprightliness  of  conversation  keeps  the  pupils  awake, 
and  the  connexion  of  the  parts  of  the  subject  can  be 
carried  on  better  in  speaking  and  reading,  than  it  can 
be  in  written  explanations.  Notes  are  almost  always 
too  formal  or  too  obscure ;  they  explain  what  was 
understood  more  plainly  before  any  illustration  was 
attempted,  or  they  leave  us  in  the  dark  the  moment  we 
want  to  be  enlightened.  Wherever  parents  or  precept- 
ors can  supply  the  place  of  notes  and  commentators, 
they  need  not  think  their  time  ill  bestowed.  If  they 
cannot  undertake  these  troublesome  explanations,  they 
can  surely  reserve  obscure  poems  for  a  later  period  of 
their  pupils'  education.  Children  who  are  taught  at 
seven  or  eight  years  old  to  repeat  poetry,  frequently  get 
beautiful  lines  by  rote,  and  speak  them  fluently,  without 
in  the  least  understanding  the  meaning  of  the  lines. 
The  business  of  a  poet  is  to  please  the  imagination  and 
to  move  the  passions :  in  proportion  as  his  language  is 
sublime  or  pathetic,  witty  or  satirical,  it  must  be  unfit 
for  children.  Knowledge  cannot  be  detailed,  or  accu- 
rately explained,  in  poetry ;  the  beauty  of  an  allusion 
depends  frequently  upon  the  elliptical  mode  of  expres- 
sion, which,  passing  imperceptibly  over  all  the  interme- 
diate links  in  our  associations,  is  apparent  only  when  it 
touches  the  ends  of  the  chain.  Those  who  wish  to 
instruct  must  pursue  the  opposite  system. 
In  Doctor  Wilkiris's  Essay  on  Universal  Language,  he 


280  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

proposes  to  introduce  a  note  similar  to  the  common  note 
of  admiration,  to  give  the  reader  notice  when  any  ex- 
pression is  used  in  an  ironical  or  in  a  aaetaphoric  sense. 
Such  a  note  would  be  of  great  advantage  to  children  : 
in  reading  poetry,  they  are  continually  puzzled  between 
the  obvious  and  the  metaphoric  sense  of  the  words.* 
The  desire  to  make  children  learn  a  vast  deal  of  poetry 
by  heart,  fortunately  for  the  understanding  of  the  rising 
generation,  does  not  rage  with  such  violence  as  formerly. 
Dr.  Johnson  successfully  laughed  at  infants  lisping  out, 
"Angels  and  ministers  of  grace,  defend  us."  His 
reproof  was  rather  illnatured,  when  he  begged  two  chil- 
dren who  were  produced  to  repeat  some  lines  to  him, 
"Can't  the  pretty  dears  repeat  them  both  together1?" 
But  this  reproof  has  probably  prevented  many  exhibi- 
tions of  the  same  kind. 

Some  people  learn  poetry  by  heart  for  the  pleasure 
of  quoting  it  in  conversation  ;  but  the  talent  for  quota- 
tion, both  in  conversation  and  in  writing,  is  now  become 
so  common,  that  it  cannot  confer  immortality. f  Every 
person  "has  by  rote  certain  passages  from  Shakspeare 
and  Thomson,  Goldsmith  and  Gray :  these  trite  quota- 
tions fatigue  the  literary  ear,  and  disgust  the  taste  of 
the  public.  To  this  change  in  the  fashion  of  the  day, 
those  who  are  influenced  by  fashion  will  probably  listen 
with  more  eagerness  than  to  all  the  reasons  that  have 
been  offered.  But  to  return  to  the  Prince  of  Parma. 
After  reading  Corneille,  Racine,  Moliere,  Boileau,  &c., 
the  young  prince's  taste  was  formed,  as  we  are  assured 
by  his  preceptor,  and  he  was  now  fit  for  the  study  of 
grammar.  So  much  is  due  to  the  benevolent  intentions 
of  a  man  of  learning  and  genius,  who  submits  to  the 
drudgery  of  writing  an  elementary  book  on  grammar, 
that  even  a  critic  must  feel  unwilling  to  examine  it  with 
severity.  M.  Condillac,  in  his  attempt  to  write  a  ra- 
tional grammar,  has  produced,  if  not  a  grammar  fit  for 
children,  a  philosophical  treatise,  which  a  well-educated 
young  person  will  read  with  great  advantage  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  or  eighteen.  All  that  is  said  of  the  natu- 

*  Iu  Dr.  Franklin's  posthumous  Essays,  there  is  an  excellent  re- 
mark with  respect  to  typography,  as  connected  with  the  art  of  read- 
ing. The  note  of  interrogation  should  be  placed  at  the  beginning,  as 
well  as  at  the  end  of  a  question  ;  it  is  sometimes  so  far  distant  as  to 
be  out  of  the  reach  of  an  unpractised  eye. 

t  Young. 


BOOKS.  281 

ral  language  of  signs,  of  the  language  of  action,  of 
pantomimes,  and  of  the  institution  of  M.  PAbbe  PEpee 
for  teaching  languages  to  the  deaf  and  dumb,  is  not  only 
amusing  and  instructive  to  general  readers,  but,  with 
slight  alterations  in  the  language,  might  be  perfectly 
adapted  to  the  capacity  of  children.  But  when  the 
Abbe  Condillac  goes  on  to  "Your  highness  knows 
what  is  meant  by  a  system,"  he  immediately  forgets 
his  pupil's  age.  The  reader's  attention  is  presently 
deeply  engaged  by  an  abstract  disquisition  on  the  rela- 
tive proportion,  represented  by  various  circles  of  dif- 
ferent extent,  of  the  wants,  ideas,  and  language  of 
savages,  shepherds,  commercial  and  polished  nations, 
when  he  is  suddenly  awakened  to  the  recollection,  that 
all  this  is  addressed  to  a  child  of  eight  years  old :  an 
allusion  to  the  prince's  little  chair  completely  rouses 
us  from  our  revery. 

"  As  your  little  chair  is  made  in  the  same  form  as 
mine,  which  is  higher,  so  the  system  of  ideas  is  funda- 
mentally the  same  among  savage  and  civilized  nations ; 
it  differs  only  in  degrees  of  extension,  as,  after  one  and 
the  same  model,  seats  of  different  heights  have  been 
made."* 

Such  mistakes  as  these,  in  a  work  intended  for  a 
child,  are  so  obvious,  that  they  could  not  have  escaped 
the  penetration  of  a  great  man,  had  he  known  as  much 
of  the  practice  as  he  did  of  the  theory  of  the  art  of 
teaching. 

To  analyze  a  thought,  and  to  show  the  construction 
of  language,  M.  Condillac,  in  this  volume  on  grammar, 
has  chosen  for  an  example  a  passage  from  an  Eloge  on 
Peter  Corneille,  pronounced  before  the  French  academy 
by  Racine,  on  the  reception  of  Thomas  Corneille,  who 
succeeded  to  Peter.  It  is  in  the  French  style  of  aca- 
demical panegyric,  a  representation  of  the  chaotic  state 
in  which  Corneille  found  the  French  theatre,  and  of  the 
light  and  order  which  he  diffused  through  the  dramatic 
world  by  his  creative  genius.  A  subject  less  interest- 
ing, or  more  unintelligible  to  a  child,  could  scarcely 

*  "  Comme  votre  petite  chaise  est  faite  sur  le  meme  modele  que  la 
mienne,  qui  est  plus  eleve'e,  ainsi  le  systeme  des  idees  est  le  me'me 
pour  le  fond  chez  les  peuples  salvages  et  chez  les  peuples  civilise's ; 
il  ne  differe,  que  parce  qu'il  est  plus  ou  moins  etendu  ;  c'est  un 
m£me  module  d'apres  lequel  on  a  fait  des  sieges  de  different  hauteur." 
— Grammaire,  p.  23. 


282  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

have  been  selected.  The  lecture  on  the  anatomy  of 
Racine's  thought  lasts  through  fifteen  pages;  accord- 
ing to  all  the  rules  of  art,  the  dissection  is  ably  per- 
formed ;  but  most  children  will  turn  from  the  operation 
with  disgust. 

The  Abbe  Condillac's  treatise  on  the  art  of  writing 
immediately  succeeds  to  his  grammar.  The  examples 
in  this  volume  are  much  better  chosen ;  they  are  in- 
teresting to  all  readers ;  those  especially  from  Madame 
de  Sevigne's  letters,  which  are  drawn  from  familiar 
language  and  domestic  life.  The  enumeration  of  the 
figures  of  speech,  and  the  classification  of  the  flowers 
of  rhetoric,  are  judiciously  suppressed ;  the  catalogue 
of  the  different  sorts  of  turns,  phrases  proper  for  maxims 
and  principles,  turns  proper  for  sentiment,  ingenious 
turns  and  quaint  turns,  stiff  turns  and  easy  turns,  might 
perhaps  have  been  somewhat  abridged.  The  observa- 
tions on  the  effect  of  unity  in  the  whole  design,  and  in 
all  the  subordinate  parts  of  a  work,  though  they  may 
not  be  new,  are  ably  stated ;  and  the  remark,  that  the 
utmost  propriety  of  language,  and  the  strongest  effect 
of  eloquence  and  reasoning,  result  from  the  greatest 
possible  attention  to  the  connexion  of  our  ideas,  is  im- 
pressed forcibly  upon  the  reader  throughout  this  work. 

How  far  works  of  criticism  in  general  are  suited  to 
children,  remains  to  be  considered.  Such  works  can- 
not probably  suit  their  taste,  because  the  taste  for  sys- 
tematic criticism  cannot  arise  in  the  mind  until  many 
books  have  been  read ;  until  the  various  species  of  ex- 
cellence suited  to  different  sorts  of  composition  have 
been  perceived,  and  until  the  mind  has  made  some 
choice  of  its  own.  It  is  true,  that  works  of  critipism 
may  teach  children  to  talk  well  of  what  they  read ;  they 
will  be  enabled  to  repeat  what  good  judges  have  said  of 
books.  But  this  is  not,  or  ought  not  to  be  the  object. 
After  having  been  thus  officiously  assisted  by  a  con- 
noisseur, who  points  out  to  them  the  beauties  of  authors, 
will  they  be  able  afterward  to  discover  beauties  with- 
out his  assistance  ]  Or  have  they  as  much  pleasure  in 
being  told  what  to  admire,  what  to  praise,  and  what  to 
blame,  as  if  they  had  been  suffered  to  feel  and  to  ex- 
press their  own  feelings  naturally]  In  reading  an  in- 
teresting play,  or  beautiful  poem,  how  often  has  a  man 
of  taste  and  genius  execrated  the  impertinent  commen- 
tator, who  interrupts  him  by  obtruding  his  ostentatious 


BOOKS.  .283 

notes — "  The  reader  will  observe  the  beauty  of  this 
thought." — "  This  is  one  of  the  finest  passages  in  any 
author,  ancient  or  modern." — "  The  sense  of  this  line, 
which  all  former  annotators  have  mistaken,  is  obviously 
restored  by  the  addition  of  the  vowel  i,"  &c. 

Deprived,  by  these  anticipating  explanations,  of  the 
use  of  his  own  common  sense,  the  reader  detests  the 
critic,  soon  learns  to  disregard  his  references,  and  to 
skip  over  his  learned  truisms.  Similar  sensations, 
tempered  by  duty  or  by  fear,  may  have  been  some- 
times experienced  by  a  vivacious  child,  who,  eager  to 
go  on  with  what  he  is  reading,  is  prevented  from  feel- 
ing the  effect  of  the  whole,  by  a  premature  discussion 
of  its  parts.  We  hope  that  no  keen  hunter  of  paradoxes 
will  here  exult  in  having  detected  us  in  a  contradiction : 
we  are  perfectly  aware,  that  but  a  few  pages  ago,  we 
exhibited  examples  of  detailed  explanations  of  poetry 
for  children;  but  these  explanations  were  not  of  the 
criticising  class  ;  they  were  not  designed  to  tell  young 
people  what  to  admire,  but  simply  to  assist  them  to  un- 
derstand before  they  admired. 

Works  of  criticism  are  sometimes  given  to  pupils, 
with  the  idea  that  they  will  instruct  and  form  them  in 
the  art  of  writing  :  but  few  things  can  be  more  terrific 
or  dangerous  to  the  young  writer  than  the  voice  of  re- 
lentless criticism.  Hope  stimulates,  but  fear  depresses 
the  active  powers  of  the  mind ;  and  how  much  have 
they  to  fear  who  have  continually  before  their  eyes 
the  mistakes  and  disgrace  of  others ;  of  others,  who 
with  superior  talents  have  attempted  and  failed !  With 
a  multitude  of  precepts  and  rules  of  rhetoric  full  in 
their  memory,  they  cannot  express  the  simplest  of  their 
thoughts  ;  and  to  write  a  sentence  composed  of  mem- 
bers which  have  each  of  them  names  of  many  syllables, 
must  appear  a  most  formidable  and  presumptuous  un- 
dertaking. On  the  contrary,  a  child  who,  in  books  and 
in  conversation,  has  been  used  to  hear  and  to  speak 
correct  language,  and  who  has  never  been  terrified  with 
the  idea,  that  to  write  is  to  express  his  thoughts  in  some 
new  and  extraordinary  manner,  will  naturally  write  as 
he  speaks  and  as  he  thinks.  Making  certain  characters 
upon  paper,  to  represent  to  others  what  he  wishes  to  say* 
to  them,  will  not  appear  to  him  a  matter  of  dread  and 

*  Rousseau. 


284  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

danger,  but  of  convenience  and  amusement ;  and  he  will 
write  prose  without  knowing  it. 

Among  some  "  Practical  Essays,"*  lately  published, 
"  to  assist  the  exertions  of  youth  in  their  literary  pur- 
suits," there  is  an  essay  on  letter-writing,  which  might 
deter  a  timid  child  from  ever  undertaking  such  an  ardu- 
ous task  as  that  of  writing  a  letter.  So  much  is  said 
from  Blair,  from  Cicero,  from  Quintilian  ;  so  many 
things  are  requisite  in  a  letter ;  purity,  neatness,  sim- 
plicity ;  such  caution  must  be  used  to  avoid  "  exotics 
transplanted  from  foreign  languages,  or  raised  in  the 
hotbeds  of  affectation  and  conceit ;"  such  attention  to 
the  mother-tongue  is  prescribed,  that  the  young  nerves 
of  the  letter-writer  must  tremble  when  he  takes  up  his 
pen.  Besides,  he  is  told  that  "  he  should  be  extremely 
reserved  on  the  head  of  pleasantry,"  and  that  "  as  to 
sallies  of  wit,  it  is  still  more  dangerous  to  let  them  fly 
at  random;  but  he  may  repeat  the  smart  sayings  of 
others  if  he  will,  or  relate  part  of  some  droll  adventure 
to  enliven  his  letter." 

The  anxiety  that  parents  and  tutors  frequently  ex- 
press to  have  their  children  write  letters,  and  good  let- 
ters, often  prevents  the  pupils  from  writing  during  the 
whole  course  of  their  lives.  Letter- writing  becomes  a 
task  and  an  evil  to  children ;  whether  they  have  any 
thing  to  say  or  not,  write  they  must,  this  post  or  next, 
without  fail,  a  pretty  letter  to  some  relation  or  friend, 
who  has  exacted  from  them  the  awful  promise  of 
punctual  correspondence.  It  is  no  wonder  that  school- 
boys and  school-girls,  in  these  circumstances,  feel  that 
necessity  is  not  the  mother  of  invention ;  they  are  re- 
duced to  the  humiliating  misery  of  begging  from  some 
old  practitioner  a  beginning  or  an  ending,  and  some- 
thing to  say  to  fill  up  the  middle. 

Locke  humorously  describes  the  misery  of  a  school- 
boy who  is  to  write  a  theme ;  and  having  nothing  to 
say,  goes  about  with  the  usual  petition  in  these  cases 
to  his  companions,  "  Pray  give  me  a  little  sense." 
Would  it  not  be  better  to  wait  until  children  have  sense, 
before  we  exact  from  them  themes  and  discourses  upon 
literary  subjects  T  There  is  no  danger  that  those  who 
acquire  a  variety  of  knowledge  and  numerous  ideas, 
should  not  be  able  to  find  words  to  express  them  ;  but 

*  Milne's  Wellbred  Scholar. 


BOOKS.  285 

those  who  are  compelled  to  find  words  before  they  have 
ideas,  are  in  a  melancholy  situation.  To  form  a  style 
is  but  a  vague  idea ;  practice  in  composition  will  cer- 
tainly confer  ease  in  writing,  upon  those  who  write 
when  their  minds  are  full  of  ideas  ;  but  the  practice  of 
sitting,  with  a  melancholy  face,  with  pen  in  hand,  wait- 
ing for  inspiration,  will  not  much  advance  the  pupil  in 
the  art  of  writing.  We  should  not  recommend  it  to  a 
preceptor  to  require  regular  themes  at  stated  periods 
from  his  pupils  ;  but  whenever  he  perceives  that  a 
young  man  is  struck  with  any  new  ideas  or  new  cir- 
cumstances, when  he  is  certain  that  his  pupil  has  ac- 
quired a  fund  of  knowledge,  when  he  finds  in  conversa- 
tion that  words  flow  readily  upon  certain  subjects,  he 
may,  without  danger,  upon  these  subjects,  excite  his 
pupil  to  try  his  powers  of  writing.  These  trials  need 
not  be  frequently  made :  when  a  young  man  has  once 
acquired  confidence  in  himself  as  a  writer,  he  will  cer- 
tainly use  his  talent  whenever  proper  occasions  present 
themselves.  The  perusal  of  the  best  authors  in  the 
English  language  will  give  him,  if  he  adhere  to  these 
alone,  sufficient  powers  of  expression.  The  best  authors 
in  the  English  language  are  so  well  known,  that  it  would 
be  useless  to  enumerate  them.  Dr.  Johnson  says,  that 
whoever  would  acquire  a  pure  English  style,  must  give 
his  days  and  nights  to  Addison.  We  do  not,  however, 
feel  this  exclusive  preference  for  Addison's  melodious 
periods :  his  page  is  ever  elegant,  but  sometimes  it  is 
too  diffuse.  Hume,  Blackstone,  and  Smith,  have  a 
proper  degree  of  strength  and  energy  combined  with 
their  elegance.  Gibbon  says,  that  the  perfect  com- 
position and  well-turned  periods  of  Dr.  Robertson,  ex- 
cited his  hopes  that  he  might  one  day  become  his  equal 
in  writing ;  but  "  the  calm  philosophy,  the  careless, 
inimitable  beauties  of  his  friend  and  rival  Hume,  often 
forced  him  to  close  the  volume  with  a  mixed  sensation 
of  delight  and  despair."  From  this  testimony  we  may 
judge,  that  a  simple  style  appears  to  the  best  judges  to 
be  more  difficult  to  attain,  and  more  desirable,  than  that 
highly  ornamented  diction  to  which  writers  of  inferior 
taste  aspire.  Gibbon  tells  us  with  great  candour,  that 
his  friend  Hume  advised  him  to  beware  of  the  rhetorical 
style  of  French  eloquence.  Hume  observed,  that  the 
English  language  and  English  taste  do  not  admit  of 
this  profusion  of  ornament. 


286  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

Without  meaning  to  enter  at  large  into  the  subject, 
we  have  offered  these  remarks  upon  style  for  the  ad- 
vantage of  those  who  are  to  direct  the  taste  of  young 
readers ;  what  they  admire  when  they  read,  they  will 
probably  imitate  when  they  write.  We  objected  to 
works  of  criticism  for  young  children, — but  we  should 
observe,  that  at  a  later  period  of  education,  they  will  be 
found  highly  advantageous.  It  would  be  absurd  to  mark 
the  precise  age  at  which  Blair's  Lectures  or  Condillac's 
Art  d'Ecrire  ought  to  be  read,  because  this  should  be 
decided  by  circumstances  ;  by  the  progress  of  the  pupils 
in  literature,  and  by  the  subjects  to  which  their  atten- 
tion happens  to  have  turned.  Of  these,  preceptors,  and 
the  pupils  themselves,  must  be  the  most  competent 
judges.  From  the  same  wish  to  avoid  all  pedantic  at- 
tempts to  dictate,  we  have  not  given  any  regular  course 
of  study  in  this  chapter.  Many  able  writers  have  laid 
down  extensive  plans  of  study,  and  have  named  the 
books  that  are  essential  to  the  acquisition  of  different 
branches  of  knowledge.  Among  others  we  may  refer 
to  Dr.  Priestley's,  which  is  to  be  seen  at  the  end  of  his 
Essays  on  Education.  We  are  sensible  that  order  is 
necessary  in  reading, — but  we  cannot  think  that  the 
same  order  will  suit  all  minds,  nor  do  we  imagine  that  a 
young  person  cannot  read  to  advantage  unless  he  pur- 
sue a  given  course  of  study.  Men  of  sense  will  not  be 
intolerant  in  their  love  of  learned  order. 

If  parents  would  keep  an  accurate  list  of  the  books 
which  their  children  read,  of  the  ages  at  which  they  are 
read,  it  would  be  of  essential  service  in  improving  the 
art  of  education.  We  might  then  mark  the  progress  of 
the  understanding  with  accuracy,  and  discover,  with 
some  degree  of  certainty,  the  circumstances  on  which 
the  formation  of  the  character  and  taste  depends.  S  wift 
has  given  us  a  list  of  the  books  which  he  read  during 
two  years  of  his  life ;  we  can  trace  the  ideas  that  he 
acquired  from  them  in  his  Laputa,  and  other  parts  of 
Gulliver's  Travels.  Gibbon's  journal  of  his  studies,  and 
his  account  of  universities,  are  very  instructive  to  young 
students.  So  is  the  life  of  Franklin,  written  by  himself. 
Madame  Roland  has  left  a  history  of  her  education ;  and 
in  the  books  she  read  in  her  early  years,  we  see  the  for- 
mation of  her  character.  Plutarch's  Lives,  she  tells  us, 
first  kindled  republican  enthusiasm  in  her  mind ;  and 
she  regrets  that,  in  forming  her  ideas  of  universal  lib- 


GRAMMAR,    F.TC.  287 

erty,  she  had  only  a  partial  view  of  affairs.  She  cor- 
rected these  enthusiastic  ideas  during  the  last  moments 
of  her  life  in  prison.  Had  the  impression  which  her 
study  of  the  Roman  history  made  upon  her  mind  been 
known  to  an  able  preceptor,  it  might  have  been  cor- 
rected in  her  early  education.  When  she  was  led  to 
execution,  she  exclaimed,  as  she  passed  the  statue  of 
Liberty,  "  Oh  Liberty,  what  crimes  are  committed  in 
thy  name  !"* 

Formerly  it  was  wisely  said,  "  Tell  me  what  company 
a  man  keeps,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  he  is ;"  but  since 
literature  has  spread  a  new  influence  over  the  world,  we 
must  add,  "  Tell  me  what  company  a  man  has  kept, 
and  what  books  he  has  read,  and  I  will  tell  you  what 
he  is." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ON    GRAMMAR    AND    CLASSICAL    LITERATURE. 

As  long  as  gentlemen  feel  a  deficiency  in  their  own 
education,  when  they  have  not  a  competent  knowledge 
of  the  learned  languages,  so  long  must  a  parent  be  anx- 
ious that  his  son  should  not  be  exposed  to  the  mortifica- 
tion of  appearing  inferior  to  others  of  his  own  rank.  It 
is  in  vain  to  urge  that  language  is  only  the  key  to  sci- 
ence ;  that  the  names  of  things  are  not  the  things  them- 
selves ;  that  many  of  the  words  in  our  own  language 
convey  scarcely  any,  or  at  best  but  imperfect,  ideas ; 
that  the  true  genius,  pronunciation,  melody,  and  idiom 
of  Greek,  are  unknown  to  the  best  scholars,  and  that  it 
cannot  reasonably  be  doubted  that  if  Homer  and  Xeno- 
phon  were  to  hear  their  works  read  by  a  professor  of 
Greek,  they  would  mistake  them  for  the  sounds  of  an 
unknown  language.  All  this  is  true  ;  but  it  is  not  the 
ambition  of  a  gentleman  to  read  Greek  like  an  ancient 
Grecian,  but  to  understand  it  as  well  as  the  generality 
of  his  contemporaries ;  to  know  whence  the  terms  of 

*  "Oh  Liberte,  que  de  forfaits  on  commis  en  ton  nom!w 

See  Appel  a  PImpartielle  Posterit6. 


288  PRACTICAL    KDUCATiON. 

most  sciences  are  derived,  and  to  be  able,  in  some  de- 
gree, to  trace  the  progress  of  mankind  in  knowledge  and 
refinement,  by  examining  the  extent  and  combination 
of  their  different  vocabularies. 

In  some  professions  Greek  is  necessary  ;  in  all,  a  cer- 
tain proficiency  in  Latin  is  indispensable ;  how,  there- 
fore, to  acquire  this  proficiency  in  the  one,  and  a  suffi- 
cient knowledge  of  the  other,  with  the  least  labour,  the 
least  waste  of  time,  and  the  least  danger  to  the  under- 
standing, is  the  material  question.  Some  schoolmasters 
would  add,  that  we  must  expedite  the  business  as  much 
as  possible :  of  this  we  may  be  permitted  to  doubt. 
"Festina  lente  is  one  of  the  most  judicious  maxims  in  edu- 
cation ;  and  those  who  have  sufficient  strength  of  mind 
to  adhere  to  it,  will  find  themselves  at  the  goal,  when 
their  competitors,  after  all  their  bustle,  are  panting  for 
breath  or  lashing  their  restive  steeds.  We  see  some 
untutored  children  start  forward  in  learning  with  rapid- 
ity: they  seem  to  acquire  knowledge  at  the  very  time 
it  is  wanted,  as  if  by  intuition  ;  while  others,  with  whom 
infinite  pains  have  been  taken,  continue  in  dull  igno- 
rance ;  or,  having  accumulated  a  mass  of  learning,  are 
utterly  at  a  loss  how  to  display  or  how  to  use  their 
treasures.  What  is  the  reason  of  this  phenomenon "? 
and  to  which  class  of  children  would  a  parent  wish  his 
son  to  belong  ?  In  a  certain  number  of  years,  after  hav- 
ing spent  eight  hours  a  day  in  "  durance  vile,"  by  the  in- 
fluence of  bodily  fear,  or  by  the  infliction  of  bodily  pun- 
ishment, a  regiment  of  boys  may  be  drilled  by  an  indefat- 
igable usher  into  what  are  called  scholars  ;  but  perhaps 
in  the  whole  regiment,  not  one  shall  ever  distinguish 
himself,  or  ever  emerge  from  the  ranks.  Can  it  be  ne- 
cessary to  spend  so  many  years,  so  many  of  the  best 
years  of  life,  in  toil  and  misery  \  WTe  shall  calculate  the 
waste  of  time  which  arises  from  the  study  of  ill- written, 
absurd,  grammar  and  exercise-books ;  from  the  habits 
of  idleness  contracted  by  schoolboys,  and  from  the  cus- 
tom of  allowing  holydays  to  young  students ;  and  we 
shall  compare  the  result  of  this  calculation  with  the 
time  really  necessary  for  the  attainment  of  the  same 
quantity  of  classical  knowledge  by  rational  methods 
We  do  not  enter  into  this  comparison  with  any  invidious 
intention,  but  simply  to  quiet  the  apprehensions  of  pa- 
rents ;  to  show  them  the  possibility  of  their  children's 
attaining  a  certain  portion  of  learning  within  a  given 


289 

number  of  years,  without  the  sacrifice  of  health,  happi- 
ness, or  the  general  powers  of  the  understanding. 

At  all  events,  may  we  not  begin  by  imploring  the  as- 
sistance of  some  able  and  friendly  hand  to  reform  the 
present  generation  of  grammars  and  school-books  1  For 
instance,  is  it  indispensably  necessary  that  a  boy  of 
seven  years  old  should  learn  by  rote  that  "  relative  sen- 
tences are  independent,  i.  e.  no  word  in  a  relative  sen- 
tence is  governed  either  of  verb  or  adjective  that  stands 
in  another  sentence,  or  depends  upon  any  appertenances 
of  the  relative  ;  and  that  the  English  ward  '  That'  is 
always  a  relative  when  it  may  be  turned  into  which  in 
good  sense,  which  must  be  tried  by  reading  over  the 
English  sentence  warily,  and  judging  how  the  sentence 
will  bear  it ;  but  when  it  cannot  be  altered,  salvo  sensu, 
it  is  a  conjunction?"  Cannot  we,  for  pity's  sake,  to  as- 
sist the  learner's  memory,  and  to  improve  his  intellect, 
substitute  some  sentences  a  little  more  connected,  and 
peihaps  a  little  more  useful,  than  the  following  ? 

"  I  have  been  a  soldier — You  have  babbled — Has  the 
crow  ever  looked  white  ? — Ye  have  exercised — Flowers 
have  withered — We  were  in  a  passion — Ye  lay  down — 
Peas  were  parched — The  lions  did  roar  awhile  ago." 

In  a  book  of  Latin  exercises,*  the  preface  to  which 
informs  us  that  **  it  is  intended  to  contain  such  precepts 
of  morality  and  religion  as  ought  most  industriously  to 
be  inculcated  into  the  heads  of  all  learners,  contrived 
so  as  that  children  may,  as  it  were,  insensibly  suck  in 
such  principles  as  will  be  of  use  to  them  afterward  in 
the  manly  conduct  and  ordering  of  their  lives,"  we  might 
expect  somewhat  more  of  pure  morality  and  sense,  with 
rather  more  elegance  of  style,  than  appear  in  the  follow- 
ing sentences  : — 

"I  struck  my  sister  with  a  stick,  and  was  forced  to 
flee  into  the  woods ;  but  when  I  had  tarried  there 
awhile,  I  returned  to  my  parents,  and  submitted  myself 
to  their  mercy,  and  they  forgave  me  my  offence." 

"  When  my  dear  mother,  unknown  to  my  father,  shall 
send  me  money,  I  will  pay  my  creditors  their  debts,  and 
provide  a  supper  for  all  my  friends  in  my  chamber,  with- 
out my  brother's  consent,  and  will  make  presents  to  all 
my  relations." 

So  the  measure  of  maternal  tenderness  is  the  sum  of 

*  Garretson's  Exercises,  the  tenth  edition. 
25 


290  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

money  which  the  dear  mother,  unknown  to  her  husband, 
shall  send  to  her  son  ;  the  measure  of  the  son's  generos- 
ity is  the  supper  he  is  to  give  to  all  his  friends  in  his 
chamber,  exclusive  of  his  poor  brother,  of  whose  offence 
we  are  ignorant.  His  munificence  is  to  be  displayed 
in  making  presents  to  all  his  relations — but  in  the  mean- 
time he  might  possibly  forget  to  pay  his  debts,  for  "jus- 
tice is  a  slow-paced  virtue,  and  cannot  keep  pace  with 
generosity." 

A  reasonable  notion  of  punishment,  and  a  disinter- 
ested love  of  truth,  are  wrell  introduced  by  the  follow- 
ing picture :  "  My  master's  countenance  was  greatly 
changed  when  he  found  his  beloved  son  guilty  of  a  lie. 
Sometimes  he  was  pale  with  anger  ;  sometimes  he  was 
red  with  rage  ;  and  in  the  meantime,  he,  poor  boy,  was 
trembling  (for  what  1)  for  fear  of  punishment."  Could 
the  ideas  of  punishment  and  vengeance  be  more  effect- 
ually joined,  than  in  this  portrait  of  the  master  red  with 
rage  ?  After  truth  has  been  thus  happily  recommended, 
comes  honesty.  "  Many  were  fellow-soldiers  with  val- 
iant Jason  when  he  stole  the  golden  fleece  ;  many  were 
companions  with  him,  but  he  bore  away  the  glory  of  the 
enterprise." 

Valour,  theft,  and  glory,  are  here  happily  combined. 
It  will  avail  us  nothing  to  observe  that  the  golden  fleece 
has  an  allegorical  meaning,  unless  we  can  explain  satis- 
factorily the  nature  of  an  allegorical  theft  ;  though  to 
our  classical  taste  this  valiant  Jason  may  appear  a  glori- 
ous hero,  yet,  to  the  simple  judgment  of  children,  he  will 
appear  a  robber.  It  is  fastidious,  however,  to  object  to 
Jason  in  the  exercise-book,  when  we  consider  what 
children  are  to  hear,  and  to  hear  with  admiration,  as 
they  advance  in  their  study  of  poetry  and  mythology. 

Lessons  of  worldly  wisdom  are  not  forgotten  in  our 
manual,  which  professes  to  teach  "  the  manly  conduct  and 
ordering  of  life'''  to  the  rising  generation.  "  Those  men," 
we  are  told,  "  who  have  the  most  money,  obtain  Hie 
greatest  honour  among  men."  But  then  again,  "  a  poor 
man  is  as  happy  without  riches,  if  he  can  enjoy  con- 
tentedness  of  mind,  as  the  richest  earl  that  covetcth 
greater  honour."  It  may  be  useful  to  put  young  men 
upon  their  guard  against  hypocrites  and  knaves  ;  but  is 
it  necessary  to  tell  schoolboys  that  "  it  concerncth  i«<», 
and  all  men,  to  look  to  ourselves,  for  the  world  is  so  full 
of  knaves  and  hypocrites,  that  ho  is  hard  to  bs  found 


GRAMMAR,   ETC. 


291 


who  mav  be  trusted  ?"  That  "  they  who  behave  them- 
se'ircbtiie  most  wariiy  of  all  men,  and  live  more  watch- 
mii\  tiidr,  oiuess,  may  happen  to  do  something  which 
D  it  be  divuiged)  may  very  much  damnify  their  reputa- 
tion iw  A  knowledge  of  the  world  may  be  early  re- 
quisite ;  but  is  it  not  going  too  far  to  assure  young 
people,  that  *c  the  nations  of  the  world  are  at  this  time 
come  to  that  pass  of  wickedness,  that  the  earth  is 
like  hell,  and  many  men  have  degenerated  into  devils." 

A  greater  variety  of  ridiculous  passages  from  this 
tenth  edition  of  Garretson's  Exercise-book,  might  be 
selected  for  the  reader's  entertainment ;  but  the  follow- 
ing specimens  will  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  him,  that  by 
this  original  writer,  natural  history  is  as  well  taught  as 
morality  : 

Man.  "  Man  is  a  creature  of  an  upright  body ;  he 
walketh  upright  when  he  is  on  a  journey;  and  when 
night  approaches,  he  iieth  flat,  and  s'leepeth." 

Horses.  "  A  journey  an  hundred  and  filty  miles  long, 
tireth  a  horse  that  hath  not  had  a  moderate  feed  of  corn." 

Air,  Earth,  Fire,  and  Water.  "  The  air  is  nearer 
the  earth  than  the  fire ;  but  the  water  is  placed  nearest 
to  the  earth,  because  these  two  elements  compose  but 
one  body." 

It  is  an  easy  task,  it /will  be  observed,  to  ridicule  ab- 
surdity. It  is  easy  to  pull  down  what  has  been  ill  built ; 
but  if  we  leave  the  ruins  for  others  to  stumble  over,  we 
do  little  good  to  society.  Parents  may  reasonably  say, 
if  you  take  away  from  our  children  the  books  they 
have,  give  them  better.  They  are  not  yet  to  be  had  ; 
but  if  a  demand  for  them  be  once  excited,  they  will  soon 
appear.  Parents  are  now  convinced,  that  the  first  books 
which  children  read  make  a  lasting  impression  upon 
them  ;  but  they  do  not  seem  to  consider  spelling-books, 
and  grammars,  and  exercise-books,  as  books,  but  only 
as  tools  for  different  purposes :  these  tools  are  often 
very  mischievous  ;  if  we  could  improve  them,  we  should 
get  our  work  much  better  done.  The  barbarous  trans- 
lations which  are  put  as  models  for  imitation  into  the 
hands  of  schoolboys,  teach  them  bad  habits  of  speaking 
and  writing,  which  are  sometimes  incurable.  For  in- 
stance, in  the  fourteenth  edition  of  Clarke's  Cornelius 
Nepos,  which  the  preface  informs  us  was  written  by  a 
man  full  of  indignation  for  the  common  practices  of 
grammar-schools,  by  a  man  who  laments  that  youth 
N2 


292  PRACTICAL     EDUCATION. 

should  spend  their  time  "  in  tossing  over  the  leaves  of 
a  dictionary,  and  hammering  out  such  a  language  as  the 
Latin,"  we  might  expect  some  better  translation  than 
the  following,  to  form  the  young  student's  style  : 

"  Nobody  ever  heard  any  other  entertainment  for  the 
ears  at  his  (Atticus's)  meals  than  a  reader,  which  we 
truly  think  very  pleasant.  Nor  was  there  ever  a  supper 
at  his  house  without  some  reading,  that  their  guests 
might  be  entertained  in  their  minds  as  well  as  their 
stomachs  ;  for  he  invited  those  whose  manners  were  not 
different  from  his  own." 

"  He  (Atticus)  likewise  had  a  touch  at  poetry,  that  he 
might  not  be  unacquainted  with  this  pleasure,  we  sup- 
pose. For  he  has  related  in  verses  the  lives  of  those 
who  excelled  the  Roman  people  in  honour,  and  the 
greatness  of  their  exploits.  So  that  he  has  described 
under  each  of  their  images,  their  actions  and  offices  in 
no  more  than  four  or  five  verses,  which  is  scarcely  to  be 
believed  that  such  great  things  could  be  so  briefly  de 
livered." 

Those  who,  in  reading  these  quotations,  have  perhaps 
exclaimed,  "  Why  must  we  go  through  this  farrago  of 
nonsense  ?"  should  reflect,  that  they  have  now  wasted 
but  a  few  minutes  of  their  time  upon  what  children  are 
doomed  to  study  for  hours  and  years.  If  a  few  pages 
disgust,  what  must  be  the  effect  of  volumes  in  the  same 
style  !  and  what  sort  of  writing  can  we  expect  from  pu- 
pils who  are  condemned  to  such  reading  1  The  analogy 
of  ancient  and  modern  languages  differs  so  materially, 
that  a  literal  translation  of  any  ancient  author  can 
scarcely  be  tolerated,  yet,  in  general,  young  scholars 
are  under  a  necessity  of  rendering  their  Latin  lessons 
into  English  word  for  word,  faithful  to  the  taste  of  their 
dictionaries,  or  the  notes  in  their  translations.  This  is 
not  likely  to  improve  the  freedom  of  their  English 
style  ;  or,  what  is  of  much  more  consequence,  is  it 
likely  to  preserve  in  the  pupil's  mind  a  taste  for  litera- 
ture 1  It  is  not  the  time  that  is  spent  in  poring  over 
lexicons,  it  is  not  the  multiplicity  of  rules  learned  by 
rote,  nor  yet  is  it  the  quantity  of  Latin  words  crammed 
into  the  memory,  which  can  give  the  habit  of  attention 
or  the  power  of  voluntary  exertion  ;  without  these,  you 
will  never  have  time  enough  to  teach  ;  with  them,  there 
will  always  be  time  enough  to  learn. — One  half  hour's 
vigorous  application  is  worth  a  whole  day's  constrained 


,    KTO.  293 

and  yawning  study.  If  we  compare  what  from  experi- 
ence we  know  can  be  done  by  a  child  of  ordinary 
capacity  in  a  given  time,  with  what  he  actually  does  in 
school-hours,  we  shall  be  convinced  of  the  enormous 
waste  of  time  incident  to  the  common  methods  of  in- 
struction. Tutors  are  sensible  of  this;  but  they  throw 
the  blame  upon  their  pupils — "  You  might  have  learned 
your  lesson  in  half  the  time,  if  you  had  chosen  it." 
The  children  also  are  sensible  of  this ;  but  they  are  not 
able  or  willing  to  prevent  the  repetition  of  the  reproach. 
But  exertion  does  not  always  depend  upon  the  will  of 
the  boy ;  it  depends  upon  his  previous  habits,  and  upon 
the  strength  of  the  immediate  motive  which  acts  upon 
him.  Some  children  of  quick  abilities,  who  have  too 
much  time  allotted  for  their  classical  studies,  are  so 
fully  sensible  themselves  of  the  pernicious  effect  this 
has  upon  their  activity  of  mind,  that  they  frequently  de- 
fer getting  their  lessons  to  the  last  moment,  that  they 
may  be  forced  by  a  sufficient  motive  to  exert  themselves. 
In  classes  at  public  schools,  the  quick  and  the  slow,  the 
active  and  indolent,  the  stumbling  and  surefooted,  are 
all  yoked  together,  and  are  forced  to  keep  pace  with  one 
another;  stupidity  may  sometimes  be  dragged  along  by 
the  vigour  of  genius  ;  but  genius  is  more  frequently 
chained  down  by  the  weight  of  stupidity.  We  are  well 
aware  of  the  difficulties  with  which  the  public  preceptor 
has  to  contend ;  he  is  often  compelled  by  his  situation 
to  follow  ancient  usage,  and  to  continue  many  customs 
which  he  wishes  to  see  reformed.  Any  reformation  in 
the  manner  of  instruction  in  these  public  seminaries 
must  be  gradual,  and  will  necessarily  follow  the  convic- 
tion that  parents  may  feel  of  its  utility.  Perhaps 
nothing  can  be  immediately  done,  more  practicably  use- 
ful, than  to  simplify  grammar,  and  to  lighten  as  much  as 
possible  the  load  that  is  laid  upon  the  memory.  With- 
out a  multiplicity  of  masters,  it  would  be  impossible  to 
suit  instruction  to  the  different  capacities  and  previous 
acquirements  of  a  variety  of  pupils  ;  but  in  a  private 
education,  undoubtedly,  the  task  may  be  rendered  much 
easier  to  the  scholar  and  to  the  teacher ;  much  jargon 
may  be  omitted ;  and  what  appears  from  want  of  ex- 
planation to  be  jargon,  may  be  rendered  intelligible  by 
proper  skill  and  attention.  During  the  first  lessons  in 
grammar  and  in  Latin,  the  pupil  need  not  be  disgusted 
with  literature,  and  we  may  apply  all  the  principles 


294  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

which  we  find  on  other  occasions  successful  in  the  man- 
agement of  the  attention.*  Instead  of  keeping  the 
attention  feebly  obedient  for  an  idle  length  of  time,  we 
should  fix  it  decidedly,  by  some  sufficient  motive,  for  as 
short  a  period  as  may  be  requisite  to  complete  the  work 
that  we  would  have  done.  As  we  apprehend,  that  even, 
where  children  are  to  be  sent  to  school,  it  will  be  a  great 
advantage  to  them  to  have  some  general  notions  of 
grammar  to  lead  them  through  the  labyrinth  of  com- 
mon school-books,  we  think  that  we  shall  do  the  public 
preceptor  an  acceptable  service,  if  we  point  out  the 
means  by  which  parents  may,  without  much  labour  to 
themselves,  render  the  first  principles  of  grammar  in- 
telligible and  familiar  to  their  children. 

We  may  observe,  that  children  pay  the  strictest  atten- 
tion to  the  analogies  of  the  language  that  they  speak. 
Where  verbs  are  defective  or  irregular,  they  supply  the 
parts  that  are  wanting  with  wonderful  facility,  according 
to  the  common  form  of  other  verbs.  They  make  all 
verbs  regular.  I  goed,  I  readed,  I  writed,  &c.  By  a 
proper  application  of  this  faculty,  much  time  may  be 
saved  in  teaching  children  grammar,  much  perplexity, 
and  much  of  that  ineffectual  labour  which  stupifies  and 
dispirits  the  understanding.  By  gentle  degrees,  a  child 
may  be  taught  the  relations  of  words  to  each  other  in 
common  conversation,  before  he  is  presented  with  the 
first  sample  of  grammatical  eloquence  in  Lilly's  Acci- 
dence. "  There  be  eight  parts  of  speech."  A  phrase 
which  in  some  parts  of  this  kingdom  would  perhaps  be 
understood,  but  which,  to  the  generality  of  boys  wno  go 
to  school,  conveys  no  meaning,  and  is  got  by  heart  with- 
out reflection,  and  without  advantage.  A.  child  can, 
however,  be  made  to  understand  these  formidable  parts 
of  speech,  if  they  are  properly  introduced  to  his  ac- 
quaintance :  he  can  comprehend,  that  some  of  the  words 
which  he  hears  express  that  something  is  done ;  he  will 
readily  perceive,  that  if  something  is  done,  somebody 
or  something  must  do  it :  he  will  distinguish  with  much 
facility  the  word  in  any  common  sentence  which  ex- 
presses an  action,  and  that  which  denotes  the  agent. 
Let  the  reader  try  the  experiment  immediately  upon 
any  child  of  six  or  seven  years  old  who  has  not 
learned  grammar,  and  he  may  easily  ascertain  the  fact. 

*  See  Chapter  on  Attention. 


o.  295 

A  few  months;  ago,  Mr.  gave  his  little  daughter 

H ,  a  child  of  five  years  old,  her  first  lesson  in  Eng- 
lish grammar  ;  but  no  alarming  book  of  grammar  was 
produced  upon  the  occasion,  nor  did  the  father  put  on  an 
unpropitious  gravity  of  countenance.  He  explained  to 
the  smiling  child  the  nature  of  a  verb,  a  pronoun,  and  a 
substantive. 

Then  he  spoke  a  short  familiar  sentence,  and  asked 

H to  try  if  she  could  find  out  which  word  in  it  was 

a  verb,  which  a  pronoun,  and  which  a  substantive.  The 
little  girl  found  them  all  out  most  successfully,  and 
formed  no  painful  associations  with  her  first  grammati- 
cal lesson.  But  though  our  pupil  may  easily  under- 
stand, he  will  easily  forget  our  first  explanations;  but 
provided  he  understands  them  at  the  moment,  we  should 
pardon  his  forgetfulness,  and  we  should  patiently  repeat 
the  same  exercise  several  days  successively;  a  few 
minutes  at  each  lesson  will  be  sufficient,  and  the  sim- 
plest sentences,  such  as  children  speak  themselves,  will 

be  the  best  examples.  Mr. ,  after  having  talked 

four  or  five  times,  for  a  few  minutes  at  a  time,  with  his 

son  S ,  when  S was  between  five  and  six  years 

old,  about  grammar,  asked  him  if  he  knew  what  a  pro- 
noun meant  ?  The  boy  answered,  "  A  word  that  is  said 
instead  of  a  substantive."  As  these  words  might  have 
been  merely  remembered  by  rote,  the  father  questioned 
his  pupil  farther,  and  asked  him  to  name  any  pronoun 
that  he  recollected.  S immediately  said,  "  /  a  pro- 
noun."— "  Name  another,"  said  his  father.  The  boy 
answered  after  some  pause,  as  if  he  doubted  whether  it 
was  or  was  not  a  pronoun,  A.  Now  it  would  have  been 
very  imprudent  to  make  a  sudden  exclamation  at  the 
child's  mistake.  The  father,  without  showing  any  sur- 
prise, gently  answered,  "  No,  my  dear,  a  does  not  stand 
in  the  place  of  any  substantive.  We  say  a  man,  but  the 
word  a  does  not  mean  a  man,  when  it  is  said  by  itself — 
Does  it  r 

S .  NO. 

Father.  Then  try  if  you  can  find  out  a  word  that  does. 

5 .  He  and  Sir. 

Sir  does  stand  in  conversation  in  the  place  of  a  man 
or  gentleman,  therefore  the  boy,  even  by  this  mistake, 
showed  that  he  had  formed,  from  the  definition  that  had 
been  given  to  him,  a  general  idea  of  the  nature  of  a  pro- 
noun ;  and  at  all  events  he  exercised  his  understanding 


296  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

upon  the  affair,  which  is  the  principal  point  we  ought  to 
have  in  view. 

An  interjection  is  a  part  of  speech  familiar  to  chil- 
dren. Mr.  Home  Tooke  is  bitter  in  his  contempt  for  it, 
and  will  scarcely  admit  it  into  civilized  company.  "  The 
brutish,  inarticulate  interjection,  which  has  nothing  to 
do  with  speech,  and  is  only  the  miserable  refuge  of  the 
speechless,  has  been  permitted  to  usurp  a  place  among 
words,"  &c. — "  The  neighing  of  a  horse,  the  lowing  of  a 
cow,  the  barking  of  a  dog,  the  purring  of  a  cat ;  sneez- 
ing, coughing,  groaning,  shrieking,  and  every  other  in- 
voluntary convulsion  with  oral  sound,  have  almost  as 
good  a  title  to  be  called  parts  of  speech,  as  interjections 
have." 

Mr.  Home  Tooke  would  have  been  pleased  with  the 

sagacity  of  a  child  of  five  years  old  (S )  who  called 

laughing  an  interjection.  Mr. gave  S a  slight 

pinch,  in  order  to  produce  "  an  involuntary  convulsion 
with  oral  sound."  And  when  the  interjection  Oh  !  was 
uttered  by  the  boy,  he  was  told  by  his  father  that  the 
word  was  an  interjection ;  and,  that  "  any  word  or  noise 
that  expresses  a  sudden  feeling  of  the  mind  may  be 

called  an  interjection."  S- immediately  said,  "  is 

laughing  an  interjection,  then?"  We  hope  that  the 
candid  reader  will  not  imagine  that  we  produce  these 
sayings  of  children  of  four  or  five  years  old,  without 
some  sense  of  the  danger  of  ridicule  ;  but  we  wish  to 
give  some  idea  of  the  sort  of  simple  answers  which 
children  are  likely  to  make  in  their  first  grammatical 
lessons.  If  too  much  is  expected  from  them,  the  dis- 
appointment which  must  be  quickly  felt,  and  will  be 
quickly  shown  by  the  preceptor,  will  discourage  the 
pupil.  We  must  repeat,  that  the  first  steps  should  be 
frequently  retraced :  a  child  should  be  for  some  weeks 
accustomed  to  distinguish  an  active  verb,  and  its  agent, 
or  nominative  case,  from  every  other  word  in  a  sen- 
tence, before  we  attempt  to  advance.  The  objects  of 
actions  are  the  next  class  of  words  that  should  be  se- 
lected. 

The  fanciful,  or  at  least  what  appears  to  the  moderns 
fanciful,  arrangement  of  the  cases  among  grammarians, 
may  be  dispensed  with  for  the  present.  The  idea  that 
the  nominative  is  a  direct,  upright  case,  and  that  the 
genitive  declines  with  the  smallest  obliquity  from  it; 
the  dative,  accusative,  and  ablative,  falling  farther  and 


GRAMMAR,    ETC.  297 

farther  from  the  perpendicularity  of  speech,  is  a  species 
of  metaphysics  not  very  edifying  to  a  child.  Into  what 
absurdity  men  of  abilities  may  be  led  by  the  desire  of  ex- 
plaining what  they  do  not  sufficiently  understand,  is 
fully  exemplified  in  other  sciences  as  well  as  grammar. 

The  discoveries  made  by  the  author  of  Epea  Ptero- 
enta,  show  the  difference  between  a  vain  attempt  to 
substitute  analogy  and  rhetoric  in  the  place  of  demon- 
stration and  common  sense.  When  a  child  has  been 
patiently  taught  in  conversation  to  analyze  what  he  says, 
he  will  take  great  pleasure  in  the  exercise  of  his  new 
talent ;  he  will  soon  discover,  that  the  cause  of  the  ac- 
tion does  not  always  come  before  the  verb  in  a  sentence, 
that  sometimes  it  follows  the  verb.  "  John  beats 
Thomas,"  and  "  Thomas  is  beaten  by  John,"  he  will 
perceive,  mean  the  same  thing;  he  may,  with  very 
little  difficulty,  be  taught  the  difference  between  a  verb 
active  and  a  verb  passive  ;  that  one  brings  first  before 
the  mind  the  person  or  thing  which  performs  the  action, 
and  the  other  represents  in  the  first  place  the  person  or 
thing  upon  whom  the  action  is  performed.  A  child  of 
moderate  capacity,  after  he  has  been  familiarized  to 
this  general  idea  of  a  verb  active  and  passive,  and  after 
he  has  been  taught  the  names  of  the  cases,  will  proba- 
bly, without  much  difficulty,  discover  that  the  nomina- 
tive case  to  a  passive  verb  becomes  the  accusative  case 
to  a  verb  active.  "  Schoolmasters  are  plagued  by  boys." 
A  child  sees  plainly,  that  schoolmasters  are  the  persons 
upon  whom  the  action  of  plaguing  is  performed,  and  he 
will  convert  the  sentence  readily  into  "  boys  plague 
schoolmasters." 

We  need  not,  however,  be  in  any  hurry  to  teach  our 
pupil  the  names  of  the  cases ;  technical  grammar  may  be 
easily  learned  after  a  general  idea  of  rational  grammar 
has  been  obtained.  For  instance,  the  verb  means  only 
the  word.,  or  the  principal  word  in  a  sentence ;  a  child 
can  easily  learn  this  after  he  has  learned  what  is  meant 
by  a  sentence ;  but  it  would  be  extremely  difficult  to 
make  him  comprehend  it  before  he  could  distinguish  a 
verb  from  a  noun,  and  before  he  had  any  idea  of  the 
structure  of  a  common  sentence.  From  easy,  we 
should  proceed  to  more  complicated  sentences.  The 
grammatical  construction  of  the  following  lines,  for  ex- 
ample, may  not  be  immediately  apparent  to  a  child : — 
N3 


298  PRACTICAL  I  DUCATION. 

"  What  modes  of  sight  between  each  vast  extreme, 
The  mole's  dim  curtain,  and  the  lynx's  beam ; 
Of  smell,  the  headlong  lioness  between, 
And  hound  sagacious  on  the  tainted  green." 

"  Of  smell."  A  girl  of  ten  years  old  (C )  was 

asked  if  she  could  tell  what  substantive  the  word  "  of" 

relates  to  ;  she  readily  answered  "  modes."  C had 

learned  a  general  idea  of  grammar  in  conversation,  in 
the  manner  which  we  have  described.  It  is  asserted 
from  experience,  that  this  method  of  instructing  chil- 
dren in  grammar  by  conversation,  is  not  only  practica- 
ble, but  perfectly  easy ;  and  that  the  minds  of  children 
are  adapted  to  this  species  of  knowledge.  During  life, 
we  learn  with  eagerness  whatever  is  congenial  with  our 
present  pursuits,  and  the  acquisition  of  language  is  one 
of  the  most  earnest  occupations  of  childhood.  After 
distinct  and  ready  knowledge  of  the  verb  and  nomina- 
tive case  has  been  acquired,  the  pupil  should  be  taught 
to  distinguish  the  object  of  an  action,  or  in  other  words, 
the  objective  or  accusative  case.  He  should  be  exer- 
cised in  this,  as  in  the  former  lessons,  repeatedly,  until  it 
becomes  perfectly  familiar ;  and  he  should  be  encour- 
aged to  converse  about  these  lessons,  and  to  make  his 
own  observations  concerning  grammar,  without  fear  of 
the  preceptor's  peremptory  frown,  or  positive  reference 
to  "  his  rules."  A  child  of  five  years  old  was  asked  what 
the  word  "  Here  /"  meant  ? — He  answered,  *'  It  means  to 
give  a  thing." 

"When  I  call  a  person,  as  John!  John!  it  seems  to 

me,"  said  a  boy  of  nine  years  old  (S )  "  it  seems  to 

me,  that  the  vocative  case  is  both  the  verb  and  its  ac- 
cusative case."  A  boy  who  had  ever  been  checked  by 
his  tutor  for  making  his  own  observations  upon  the 
mysterious  subject  of  grammar,  would  never  have  dared 
to  think  or  to  utter  a  new  thought  so  freely. — Forcing 
children  to  learn  any  art  or  science  by  rote,  without 
permitting  the  exercise  of  the  understanding,  must  ma- 
terially injure  their  powers  both  of  reasoning  and  of  in- 
vention. We  acknowledge  that  Wilkins  and  Tooke 
have  shown  masters  how  to  teach  grammar  a  little 
better  than  it  was  formerly  taught.  Fortunately  for  the 
rising  generation,  all  the  words  under  the  denomination 
of  adverbs,  prepositions,  and  conjunctions,  which  were 
absolute  nonsense  to  us,  may  be  easily  explained  to 


GRAMMAR,    ETC.  299 

them,  and  the  commencement  of  instruction  need  no 
longer  lay  the  foundation  of  implicit  acquiescence  in 
nonsense.  We  refer  to  Mr.  Home  Tooke's  "  Epea 
Pteroenta,"  forbearing  to  dilate  upon  the  principles  of 
his  work,  lest  we  should  appear  in  the  invidious  light  of 
authors  who  rob  the  works  of  others  to  adorn  their  own. 
We  cannot  help  expressing  a  wish,  that  Mr.  Home 
Tooke  would  have  the  philanthropic  patience  to  write  an 
elementary  work  in  a  simple  style,  unfolding  his  gram- 
matical discoveries  to  the  rising  generation. 

When  children  have  thus,  by  gentle  degrees,  and  by 
short  and  clear  conversations,  been  initiated  in  general 
grammar,  and  familiarized  to  its  technical  terms,  the 
first  page  of  tremendous  Lilly  will  lose  much  of  its  hor- 
ror. It  has  been  taken  for  granted,  that  at  the  age  of 
which  we  have  been  speaking,  a  child  can  read  English 
tolerably  well,  and  that  he  has  been  used  to  employ  a 
dictionary.  He  may  now  proceed  to  translate  from 
some  easy  books  a  few  short  sentences  :  the  first  ward 
will  probably  be  an  adverb  or  conjunction ;  either  of 
them  may  readily  be  found  in  the  Latin  dictionary,  and 
the  young  scholar  will  exult  in  having  translated  one 
word  of  Latin ;  but  the  next  word,  a  substantive  or 
verb  perhaps,  will  elude  his  search.  Now  the  grammar 
may  be  produced,  and  something  of  the  various  termi- 
nations of  a  noun  may  be  explained.  If  musam  be 
searched  for  in  the  dictionary,  it  cannot  be  found ;  but 
musa  catches  the  eye,  and,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
grammar,  it  may  be  shown,  that  the  meaning  of  words 
may  be  discovered  by  the  united  helps  of  the  dictionary 
and  grammar.  After  some  days'  patient  continuation  of 
this  exercise,  the  use  of  the  grammar,  and  of  its  uncouth 
collection  of  words  and  syllables,  will  be  apparent  to 
the  pupil :  he  will  perceive  that  the  grammar  is  a  sort 
of  appendix  to  the  dictionary.  The  grammatical  for- 
mulae may  then,  by  gentle  degrees,  be  committed  to 
memory ;  and  when  once  got  by  heart,  should  be  assid- 
uously preserved  in  the  recollection.  After  the  prepar- 
ation which  we  have  recommended,  the  singular  num- 
ber of  a  declension  will  be  learned  in  a  few  minutes  by 
a  child  of  ordinary  capacity,  and  after  two  or  three  days' 
repetition,  the  plural  number  may  be  added.  The  whole 
of  the  first  declension  should  be  well  fixed  in  the  mem- 
ory before  a  second  is  attempted.  During  this  process, 
a  few  words  at  every  lesson  may  be  translated  from 


300  PRACliCAL  EDUCATION. 

Latin  to  English,  and  such  nouns  as  are  of  the  first 
declension  may  be  compared  with  rnusa,  and  may  be 
declined  according  to  the  same  form.  Tedious  as  this 
method  may  appear,  it  will  in  the  end  be  found  expedi- 
tious Omitting  some  of  the  theoretic  or  didactic  paj*t 
of  the  grammar,  which  should  only  be  read,  and  which 
may  be  explained  with  care  and  patience,  the  whole  of 
the  declensions,  pronouns,  conjugations,  the  list  of  prep- 
ositions and  conjunctions,  interjections,  some  adverbs, 
the  concords,  and  common  rules  of  syntax,  may  be  com- 
prised with  sufficient  repetitions  in  about  two  or  three 
hundred  lessons  of  ten  minutes  each ;  that  is  to  say,  ten 
minutes  application  of  the  scholar  in  the  presence  of  the 
teacher.  A  young  boy  should  never  be  set  to  learn  a 
lesson  by  heart  when  alone.  Forty  hours  !  Is  this  te- 
dious ?  If  you  are  afraid  of  losing  time,  begin  a  few 
months  earlier  ;  but  begin  when  you  will,  forty  hours  is 
surely  no  great  waste  of  time :  the  whole,  or  even  half 
of  this  short  time,  is  not  spent  in  the  labour  of  getting 
jargon  by  rote  ;  each  day  some  slight  advance  is  made 
in  the  knowledge  of  words,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  their 
combinations.  What  we  insist  upon  is,  that  nothing 
should  be  done  to  disgust  the  pupil:  steady  perseverance 
with  uniform  gentleness,  will  induce  habit ;  and  nothing 
should  ever  interrupt  the  regular  return  of  the  daily 
lesson.  If  absence,  business,  illness,  or  any  other  cause, 
prevent  the  attendance  of  the  teacher,  a  substitute  must 
be  appointed ;  the  idea  of  relaxation  on  Sunday,  or  a 
holyday,  should  never  be  permitted.  In  most  public 
seminaries  above  one  third,  in  some  nearly  one  half,  of 
the  year  is  permitted  to  idleness :  it  is  the  comparison 
between  severe  labour  and  dissipation,  that  renders 
learning  hateful. 

Johnson  is  made  to  say  by  one  of  his  female  biogra- 
phers,* that  no  child  loves  the  person  who  teaches  him 
Latin ;  yet  the  author  of  this  chapter  would  not  take  all 
the  doctor's  fame,  and  all  the  lady's  wit  and  riches,  in 
exchange  for  the  hourly,  unfeigned,  unremitting  friend- 
ship, which  he  enjoys  with  a  son  who  had  no  other 
master  than  his  father.  So  far  from  being  laborious  or 
troublesome,  he  has  found  it  an  agreeable  employment 
to  instruct  his  children  in  grammar  and  the  learned  lan- 
guages. Tn  the  midst  of  a  variety  of  other  occupations, 

•  Mr  P.  Piozzi. 


GRAMMAR,    ETC.  301 

half  an  hour  every  morning  for  many  years,  during  the 
time  of  dressing,  has  been  allotted  to  the  instruction  of 
boys  of  different  ages  in  languages,  and  no  other  time 
has  been  spent  in  this  employment.  Were  it  asserted 
that  these  boys  made  a  reasonable  progress,  the  expres- 
sion would  convey  no  distinct  meaning  to  the  reader  ; 
we  shall  therefore  mention  an  experiment  tried  this 
morning,  November  8th,  1796,  to  ascertain  the  progress 
of  one  of  these  pupils.  Without  previous  study,  he 
translated  twenty  lines  of  the  story  of  Ceyx  and  Al- 
cyone, from  Ovid,  consulting  the  dictionary  only  twice  : 
he  was  then  desired  to  translate  the  passage  which  he 
had  read  into  English  verse  ;  and  in  two  or  three  hours 
he  produced  the  following  version.  Much  of  the  time 
was  spent  in  copying  the  lines  fairly,  as  this  opportunity 
was  taken  of  exciting  his  attention  to  writing  and  spel- 
ling, to  associate  the  habit  of  application  with  the  pleas- 
ure of  voluntary  exertion.  The  curious  may,  if  they 
think  it  worth  their  while,  see  the  various  readings  and 
corrections  of  the  translation  (See  Chapter  on  Conversa- 
tion, and  anecdotes  of  Children),  which  were  carefully 
preserved,  not  as  "  Curiosities  of  Literature"  but  for  the 
sake  of  truth,  and  with  a  desire  to  show  that  the  pupil 
had  the  patience  to  correct.  A  genius  may  hit  off  a  few 
tolerable  lines  ;  but  if  a  child  is  willing  and  able  to  criti- 
cise and  correct  what  he  writes,  he  shows  that  he  se- 
lects his  expressions  from  choice,  and  not  from  chance 
or  imitation  ;  and  he  gives  to  a  judicious  tutor  the  cer- 
tain promise  of  future  improvement. 

"  Far  in  a  vale  there  lies  a  cave  forlorn, 
Which  Phoebus  never  enters  eve  or  mom  ; 
The  misty  clouds  inhale  the  pitchy  ground. 
And  twilight  lingers  all  the  vale  around. 
No  watchful  cocks  Aurora's  beams 'invite ; 
No  dogs  nor  geese,  the  guardians  of  the  night : 
No  flocks  nor  herds  disturb  the  silent  plains  ; 
Within  the  sacred  walls  mute  quiet  rejgns, 
And  murmuring  Lethe  soothing  sleep  invites ; 
In  dreams  again  the  flying  past  delights : 
From  milky  flowers  that  near  the  cavern  grow, 
Night  scatters  the  collected  sleep  below." 

S ,  the  boy  who  made  this  translation,  was  just 

ten  years  old  ;  he  had  made  but  three  previous  attempts 

in  versification ;  his  reading  in  poetry  had  been  some 

of  Gay's  fables,  parts  of  the  Minstrel,  three  odes  of  Gray, 

26 


302  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

the  Klrgy  in  a  Country  Churchyard,  the  Tears  of  Old 
May-day,  and  parts  of  the  second  volume  of  Dr.  Dar- 
win's Botanic  Garden ;  Drydea's  Translations  of  the 
fable  of  Ceyx  and  Alcyone  he  had  never  seen  ;  the 
book  had  always  been  locked  up.  Phaedrus  and  Ovid's 
Metamorphoses  were  the  whole  of  his  Latin  erudition. 
These  circumstances  are  mentioned  thus  minutely,  to 
fford  the  inquisitive  teacher  materials  for  an  accurate 
'imateof  the  progress  made  by  our  method  of  instruc- 
tion. Perhaps  most  boys  of  3 's  age,  in  our  great 

public  seminaries,  would,  upon  a  similar  trial,  be  found 
superior.  Competition  in  the  art  of  translation  is  not 
our  object ;  our  object  is  to  show,  that  half  an  hour  a 
day,  steadily  appropriated  to  grammar  and  Latin,  would 
be  sufficient  to  secure  a  boy  of  this  age  from  any  dan- 
ger of  ignorance  in  classical  learning  ;  and  that  the  ease 
and  shortness  of  his  labour  will  prevent  that  disgust, 
which  is  too  often  induced  by  forced  and  incessant  ap- 
plication. We  may  add,  that  some  attention  to  the 
manner  in  which  the  pupils  repeat  their  Latin  lessons, 
has  been  found  advantageous :  as  they  were  never  put 
in  bodily  fear  by  the  impatience  of  a  pedagogue,  they 
had  leisure  and  inclination  to  read  and  recite,  without 
awkward  gestures  and  discordant  tones.  The  whining 
tones  and  convulsive  gestures  often  contracted  by  boys 
during  the  agony  of  repeating  their  long  lessons,  are 
not  likely  to  be  advantageous  to  the  rising  generation 
of  orators.  Practice,  and  the  strong  motive  of  emula- 
tion, may,  in  a  public  seminary,  conquer  these  bad  habits. 
After  the  pupil  has  learned  to  speak  ill,  he  may  be 
taught  to  speak  well ;  but  the  chances  are  against  him  : 
and  why  should  we  have  the  trouble  of  breaking  bad 
habits  ?  It  is  much  easier  to  prevent  them.  In  private 
education,  as  the  preceptor  has  less  chance  of  curing 
his  pupil  of  the  habit  of  speaking  ill,  he  should  be  pecu- 
liarly attentive  to  give  the  child  constant  habits  of 
speaking  and  reading  well.  It  is  astonishing,  that  pa- 
rents who  are  extremely  intent  upon  the  education  of 
their  children,  should  overlook  some  of  the  essential 
means  of  success.  A  young  man  with  his  head  full  of 
Latin  and  law,  will  make  but  a  poor  figure  at  the  bar 
or  in  Parliament,  if  he  cannot  enunciate  distinctly,  and 
if  ha  cannot  speak  good  English  extempore,  or  produce 
his  learning  and  arguments  with  grace  and  propriety. 
It  is  in  vain  to  expect  that  a  boy  should  speak  well  in 


GRAMMAR,    ETC.  303 

public,  who  cannot,  in  common  conversation,  utter  three 
connected  sentences  without  a  false  concord  or  a  pro- 
vincial idiom ;  he  may  be  taught  with  much  care  and 
cost  to  speak  tripod  sentences;*  but  bring  the  young 
orator  to  the  test,  bring  him  to  actual  business,  rouse 
any  of  his  passions,  throw  him  off  his  guard,  and  then 
listen  to  his  language  ;  he  will  forget  instantly  his  read- 
ing-master, and  all  his  rules  of  pronunciation  and 
rhetoric,  and  he  will  speak  the  language  to  which  he 
has  been  most  accustomed.  No  master  will  then  be 
near  him  to  regulate  the  pitch  and  tones  of  his  voice. 
We  cannot  believe  that  even  Caius  Gracchus  could, 
when  he  was  warmed  with  passion,  listen  to  Licinius's 
pitchpipe.f  Example,  and  constant  attention  to  their 
manner  of  speaking  in  common  conversation,  we  appre- 
hend to  be  the  most  certain  methods  of  preparing  young 
men  for  public  speakers.  Much  of  the  time  that  is 
spent  in  teaching  boys  to  walk  upon  stilts,  might  be 
more  advantageously  employed  in  teaching  them  to 
walk  well  without  them.  It  is  all  very  well  while  the 
pupil  is  under  the  protection  of  his  preceptor.  The 
actor  on  the  stage  is  admired  while  he  is  elevated  by 
the  cothurnus ;  but  young  men  are  not  to  exhibit  their 
oratorical  talents  always  with  the  advantages  of  stage 
effect  and  decorations.  We  should  imagine,  that  much 
of  the  diffidence  felt  by  young  men  of  abilities,  when 
they  first  rise  to  speak  in  public,  may  be  attributed  to 
their  immediate  perception  of  the  difference  between 
scholastic  exhibitions  and  the  real  business  of  life  ; 
they  feel  that  they  have  learned  to  speak  two  languages, 
which  must  not,  on  any  account,  be  mixed  together ; 
the  one,  the  vulgar  language  of  common  conversation  ; 
the  other,  the  refined  language  of  oratorical  composi- 
tion :  the  first  they  are  most  inclined  to  use  when  they 
are  agitated ;  and  they  are  agitated  when  they  rise  to 
speak  before  numbers  :  consequently  there  is  an  imme- 
diate struggle  between  custom  and  institution.  Now,  a 
young  man,  who  in  common  conversation  in  his  own 
family  has  never  been  accustomed  to  hear  or  to  speak 
vulgar  or  ungrammatical  language,  cannot  possibly  ap- 
prehend that  he  shall  suddenly  utter  ridiculous  expres- 
sions ;  he  knows,  that,  if  he  speak  at  all,  he  shall  at 
least  speak  good  English ;  and  he  is  not  afraid,  that,  if 

*  See  Blair.  .  f  See  Plutarch. 


304  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

.he  be  pursued,  he  shall  be  obliged  to  throw  away  his 
cumbrous  stilts.  The  practice  of  speaking  in  public,  we 
are  sensible,  is  a  great  advantage;  but  the  habit  of 
speaking  accurately  in  private  is  of  still  greater  conse- 
quence :  this  habit  depends  upon  the  early  and  perse- 
vering care  of  the  parent  and  the  preceptor.  There  As 
no  reason  why  children  should  not  be  made  at  the  same 
time  good  scholars  and  good  speakers ;  nor  is  there  any 
reason  why  boys,  while  they  learn  to  write  Latin, 
should  be  suffered  to  forget  how  to  write  English. 

It  would  be  a  great  advantage  to  the  young  classical 
scholar,  if  his  Latin  and  English  literature  were  mixed  ; 
the  taste  for  ancient  authors  and  for  modern  literature 
ought  to  be  cultivated  at  the  same  time;  and  the  beau- 
ties of  composition,  characteristic  of  different  lan- 
guages, should  be  familiarized  to  the  student.  Classi- 
cal knowledge  and  taste  afford  such  continual  and  inno- 
cent sources  of  amusement,  that  we  should  be  extremely 
sorry  that  any  of  our  pupils  should  not  enjoy  them  in 
their  fullest  extent  ;  but  we  do  not  include  a  talent  for 
Latin  composition  among  the  necessary  accomplishments 
of  a  gentleman.  There  are  situations  in  life,  where 
facility  and  elegance  in  writing  Latin  may  be  useful,  but 
such  situations  are  not  common ;  wheii  a  young  man  is 
intended  for  them,  he  may  be  trained  with  more  par- 
ticular assiduity  to  this  art ;  perhaps  for  tnis  purpose 
the  true  Busbyean  method  is  the  best.  'The  gieat  Latin 
and  Greek  scholars  of  the  age  have  no  reason  to  be 
displeased  by  the  assertion,  that  classical  proficiency 
equal  to  their  own  is  not  a  necessary  accomplishment 
in  a  gentleman  ;  ii  their  learning  become  more  rare,  it 
may  thence  become  more  valuable.  We  see  no  reason 
why  theie  should  not  be  Lacinists  as  well  as  special 
pleaders. 

We  have  not  laid  down  any  course  of  classical  study: 
those  who  consider  the  order  in  which  certain  authors 
are  read,  as  of  material  consequence  in  the  education  of 
scholars,  may  consul •:  Milton,  Mrs.  Macauley,  "  Milne's 
Welibiea  Scholar,  •  &;^.,  where  they  will  find  precise 
directions. 

V7e  have  lately  seen  a  coLecaon  of  exercises  for 
bcyvvv/mch  :n  »ome  measure  supplies  the  defect  of 
Mr.  Gar::. son ts  cuiious  performance.  We  wish  most 

*  Valpy's  Exercises. 


GRAMMAR,  ETC.  305 

earnestly  that  dictionaries  were  improved.  The  author 
of  "  Stemmata  Latihitatis"  has  conferred  an  essential 
service  on  the  public ;  but  still  there  is  wanting  a  dic- 
tionary for  schools,  in  which  elegant  and  proper  English 
might  be  substituted  for  the  barbarous  translations  now 
in  use.  Such  a  dictionary  could  not  be  compiled,  we 
should  think,  without  an  attention  to  the  course  of  books 
that  are  most  commonly  used  in  schools.  The  first 
meanings  given  in  the  dictionary  should  suit  the  first 
authors  that  a  boy  reads  ;  this  may  probably  be  a  re- 
mote or  metaphoric  meaning:  then  the  radical  word 
should  be  mentioned ;  and  it  would  not  cost  a  master 
any  great  trouble  to  trace  the  genealogy  of  words  to 
the  parent  stock. 

Corderi  is  a  collection  of  such  mean  sentences,  and 
uninstructive  dialogue,  as  to  be  totally  unfit  for  boys. 
Comenius's  "  Visible  World  Displayed"  is  far  superior, 
and  might,  with  proper  alterations  and  better  prints, 
become  a  valuable  English  school-book.  Both  these 
books  were  intended  for  countries  where  the  Latin  lan- 
guage was  commonly  spoken,  and  consequently  they 
are  filled  with  the  terms  necessary  for  domestic  life  and 
conversation ;  for  this  very  reason  they  are  not  good 
introductions  to  the  classics.  Selections  from  Bailey's 
Phaedrus  will  be  proper  for  young  beginners,  upon  ac- 
count of  the  glossary.  We  prefer  this  mode  of  assist- 
ing them  with  glossaries  to  the  use  of  translations,  be- 
cause they  do  not  induce  indolent  habits,  and  yet  they 
prevent  the  pupil  from  having  unnecessary  labour. 
Translations  always  give  the  pupil  more  trouble  in  the 
end  than  they  save  in  the  beginning.  The  glossary  to 
Bailey's  Phaedrus.  which  we  have  just  mentioned,  wants 
much  to  be  modernized,  and  the  language  requires  to 
be  improved.  Mr.  Valpy's  "  Select  Sentences"  would 
be  much  more  useful  if  they  had  a  glossary  annexed. 
As  they  are,  they  will,  however,  be  useful  after  Phae- 
drus. Ovid's  Metamorphoses,  with  all  its  monstrous 
faults,  appears  to  be  the  best  introduction  to  the  Latin 
classics,  and  to  heathen  mythology.  Norris's  Ovid  may 
be  safely  put  into  the  hands  of  children,  as  it  is  a  selec- 
tion of  the  least  exceptionable  fables.  To  accustom 
boys  to  read  poetry  and  prose  nearly  at  the  same  pe- 
riod, is  advantageous.  Cornelius  Nepos,  a  crabbed  book, 
but  useful  from  its  brevity,  and  from  its  being  a  proper 
introduction  to  Grecian  and  Roman  history,  may  be 


306  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION 

read  nearly  at  the  same  time  with  Ovid's  Metamor- 
phoses. After  Ovid,  the  pupil  may  begin  Virgil,  post- 
poning some  of  the  Eclogues,  and  all  the  Georgies. 

We  recommend  that  some  English  books  should  be 
put  into  the  hands  of  boys  while  they  are  going  through 
Phafidrus,  Ovid,  and  Cornelius  Nepos,  which  may  suit 
with  the  ideas  they  acquire  from  these  Latin  authors. 
Plutarch's  Lives,  for  instance,  will  be  useful  and  inter- 
esting. When  we  mention  Plutarch's  Lives,  we  can- 
not help  recollecting  how  many  great  people  have  ac- 
knowledged the  effect  of  this  book  in  their  early  educa- 
tion. Charles  the  Twelfth,  Rousseau,  Madame  Roland, 
Gibbon,  we  immediately  remember,  and  we  are  sure  we 
have  noticed  many  others.  An  abridgment  of  Plutarch, 
by  Mrs.  Helme,  which  we  have  looked  into,  appears 
(the  preface  excepted)  to  be  well  written  ;  and  we  see 
another  abridgment  of  Plutarch  advertised,  which  we 
hope  may  prove  serviceable  :  good  prints  to  a  Plutarch 
for  children,  would  be  very  desirable. 

As  an  English  introduction  to  mythology,  we  recom- 
mend the  first  volume  of  Lord  Chesterfield's  Letters  as 
a  most  elegant  view  of  heathen  mythology.  But  if 
there  be  Any  danger  that  the  first  volume  should  intro- 
duce the  remainder  of  Lord  Chesterfield's  work  to  the 
inexperienced  reader,  we  should  certainly  forbear  the 
experiment:  it  would  be  far  better  for  a  young  man 
never  to  be  acquainted  with  a  single  heathen  deity,  than 
to  purchase  Lord  Chesterfield's  classical  knowledge  at 
the  hazard  of  contamination  from  his  detestable  system 
of  morals.  Without  his  lordship's  assistance,  Mrs.  Mon- 
signy's  Mythology  can  properly  initiate  the  young  pupil 
of  either  sex  into  the  mysteries  of  ancient  fables.  The 
notes  to  Potter's  ^Eschylus  are  also  well  suited  to  our 
purpose.  In  Dr.  Darwin's  "  Botanic  Garden,"  there  are 
some  beautiful  poetic  allusions  to  ancient  gems  and  an- 
cient fables,  which  must  fix  themselves  in  the  memory 
or  in  the  imagination  of  the  pupil.  The  sooner  they  are 
read,  the  better ;  we  have  felt  the  advantage  of  putting 
them  into  the  hands  of  a  boy  of  nine  or  ten  years  old. 
The  ear  should  be  formed  to  English,  as  well  as  to  Latin 
poetry. 

Classical  poetry,  without  the  knowledge  of  mythol- 
ogy, is  r.nintelligible:  if  children  study  the  one,  tkey 
mast  learn  the  other.  Divested  of  the  charms  of  poetry, 
an1}  considered  without  classical  prepossession,  mythol- 


-GRAMMAR,   •  'IV.  307 

ogy  presents  a  system  of  crimes  and  absurdities,  \vhich 
no  allegorical,  metaphysical,  or  literal  interpreters  of 
modern  times,  can  perfectly  reconcile  to  common  sense 
or  common  morality  ;  but  our  poets  have  naturalized 
ancient  fables,  so  that  mythology  has  become  essential 
even  to  modern  literature.  The  associations  af  taste, 
though  arbitrary,  are  not  easily  changed  in  a  nation 
whose  literature  has  attained  to  a  certain  pitch  of  refine- 
ment, and  whose  critical  judgments  must  consequently 
have  been  for  some  generations  traditional.  There  are 
subjects  of  popular  allusion,  which  poets  and  orators 
regard  as  common  property ;  to  dispossess  them  of 
these  seems  impracticable,  after  time  has  sanctioned 
the  prescriptive  right.  But  new  knowledge,  and  the 
cultivation  of  new  sciences,  present  objects  of  poetic 
allusion,  which,  skilfully  managed  by  men  of  inventive 
genius,  will  oppose  to  the  habitual  reverence  for  anti- 
quity, the  charms  of  novelty  united  to  the  voice  of  phi- 
losophy.* 

In  education  we  must,  however,  consider  the  actual 
state  of  manners  in  that  world  in  which  our  pupils  are 
to  live,  as  well  as  our  wishes  or  our  hopes  of  its  gradual 
improvement.!  With  a  little  care,  preceptors  may  man- 
age, so  as  to  teach  mythology  without  in  the  least  injur- 
ing their  pupils.  Children  may  be  familiarized  to  the 
strange  manners  and  strange  personages  of  ancient  fable, 
and  may  consider  them  as  a  set  of  beings  who  are  not 
to  be  judged  by  any  rules  of  morality,  and  who  have 
nothing  in  common  with  ourselves.  The  caricature  of 
some  of  the  passions,  perhaps,  will  not  shock  children 
who  are  not  used  to  their  natural  appearance  ;  they  will 
pass  over  the  stories  of  love  and  jealousy  merely  be- 
cause they  do  not  understand  them.  We  should  rather 
leave  them  completely  unintelligible.,  than  attempt,  like 
Mr.  Riley,  in  his  mythological  pocket  dictionary  for 
youth,  to  elucidate  the  whole  at  once,  by  assuring  chil- 
dren that  Saturn  was  Adam,  that  Atlas  is  Moses,  and  his 
brother  Hesperus,  Aaron  ;  that  Vertumnus  and  Pomona 
were  Boaz  and  Ruth  ;  that  Mars  corresponds  with  Joshua ; 
that  Apollo  accords  with  David,  since  they  both  played 

*  See  Darwin's  Poetry. 

•f  Since  the  above  was  written,  we  have  seen  a  letter  from  Dr. 
Aikin  to  his  son  on  the  morality  and  poetic  merit  of  the  fable  of  Circe, 
which  convinces  us  that  the  observations  that  we  have  hazardedar4* 
not  preraatnra 


308  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

upon  the  harp  ;  that  Mercury  can  be  no  other  than  our 
archangel  Michael,  since  they  both  have  wings  on  their 
arms  and  feet ;  that,  in  short,  to  complete  the  concord- 
ance, Momus  is  a  striking  likeness  of  Satan.  The  an- 
cients, Mr.  Riley  allows,  have  so  much  disfigured  these 
personages,  that  it  is  hard  to  know  many  of  the  portraits 
again  at  first  sight ;  however,  he  is  persuaded  that  "  the 
young  student  will  find  a  peculiar  gratification  in  tracing 
the  likeness,"  and  he  has  kindly  furnished  us  with  a 
catalogue  to  explain  the  exhibition,  and  to  guide  us 
through  his  new  pantheon. 

As  books  of  reference,  the  convenient  size  and  com- 
pressed information  of  pocket  mythological  dictionaries, 
will  recommend  them  to  general  use ;  but  we  object 
to  the  miserable  prints  with  which  they  are  sometimes 
disgraced.  The  first  impression  made  upon  the  imagin- 
ation* of  children,  is  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  their 
future  taste.  The  beautiful  engravings!  in  Spence's 
Polymetis,  will  introduce  the  heathen  deities  in  their 
most  graceful  and  picturesque  forms  to  the  fancy.  The 
language  of  Spence,  though  classical,  is  not  entirely  free 
from  pedantic  affectation,  and  his  dialogues  are,  perhaps, 
too  stiff  and  longwinded  for  our  young  pupils.  But  a 
parent  or  preceptor  can  easily  select  the  useful  expla- 
nations ;  and  in  turning  over  the  prints,  they  can  easily 
associate  some  general  notion  of  the  history  and  attri- 
butes of  the  gods  and  goddesses  with  their  forms  :  the 
little  eager  spectators  will,  as  they  crowd  round  the  book, 
acquire  imperceptibly  all  the  necessary  knowledge  of 
mythology,  imbibe  the  first  pleasing  ideas  of  taste,  and 
store  their  imagination  with  classic  imagery.  The  same 
precautions  that  are  necessary  to  educate  the  eye,  are 
also  necessary  to  form  the  ear  and  understanding  of 
taste.  The  first  mythological  descriptions  which  our 
pupils  read  should  be  the  best  in  their  kind.  Compare 
the  following  account  of  Europa  in  a  pocket  dictionary, 
with  her  figure  in  a  poetical  gem — "  Europa,  the  daughter 
Of  Agenor,  king  of  the  Phoenicians,  and  sister  of  Cad- 
mus. This  princess  was  so  beautiful,  that,  they  say, 
one  of  the  companions  of  Juno  had  robbed  her  of  a  pot 
of  paint  to  bestow  on  this  lady,  which  rendered  her  so 
handsome.  She  was  beloved  of  Jupiter,  who  assumed 

*  Chapter  on  Imagination. 

f  "We  speak  of  these  engravings  as  beautiful,  for  the  times  in  which 
they  were  done ;  modern  artists  have  arrived  at  higher  perfection. 


GEOGRAPHY  AND  CHRONOLOGY.        309 

the  shape  of  a  bull  to  run  away  with  her,  swam  over 
the  sea  with  her  on  his  back,  and  carried  her  into  that 
part  of  the  world  now  called  Europe,  from  her  name. 
So  far  the  dictionary  ;  now  for  the  poet. 

"Now  lows  a  milk-white  bull  on  Afric's  strand, 
And  crops  with  dancing  head  the  daisi'd  land ; 
With  rosy  wreaths  Europa's  hand  adorns 
His  fringed  forehead  and  his  pearly  horns ; 
Light  on  his  back  the  sportive  damsel  bounds, 
And,  pleas'd,  he  moves  along  the  flowery  grounds ; 
Bears  with  slow  step  his  beauteous  prize  aloof, 
Dips  in  the  lucid  flood  his  ivory  hoof; 
Then  wets  his  velvet  knees,  and  wading,  laves 
His  silky  sides,  amid  the  dimpling  waves. 
While  her  fond  train  with  beckoning  hands  deplore, 
Strain  their  blue  eyes,  and  shriek  along  the  shore : 
Beneath  her  robe  she  draws  her  snowy  feet, 
And,  half  reclining  on  her  ermine  seat, 
Round  his  rais'd  neck  her  radiant  arms  she  throws, 
And  rests  her  fair  cheek  on  his  curled  brows ; 
Her  yellow  tresses  wave  on  wanton  gales, 
And  high  in  air,  her  azure  mantle  sails."* 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


ON  GEOGRAPHY  AND  CHRONOLOGY. 

THE  usual  manner  of  teaching  Geography  and  Chro- 
nology may,  perhaps,  be  necessary  in  public  seminaries, 
where  a  number  of  boys  are  to  learn  the  same  thing  at 
the  same  time ;  but  what  is  learned  in  this  manner  is 
not  permanent ;  something  besides  merely  committing 
names  and  dates  to  the  memory,  is  requisite  to  make  a 
useful  impression  upon  the  memory.  For  the  truth  of 
this  observation,  an  appeal  is  made  to  the  reader.  Let 
him  recollect,  whether  the  Geography  and  Chronology 
which  he  learned  while  a  boy  are  what  he  now  remem- 
bers— Whether  he  has  not  obtained  his  present  knowl- 
edge from  other  sources  than  the  tasks  of  early  years. 
When  business  or  conversation  calls  upon  us  to  furnish 

*  Darwin.     See  Botanic  Garden, 


310  PRACTICAL     KJ>l?OATJ"N. 

facts  accurate  as  to  place  and  time,  we  retrace  our  former 
heterogeneous  acquirements,  and  select  those  circum- 
stances which  are  connected  with  our  present  pursuit ; 
and  thus  we  form,  as  it  were,  a  nucleus  round  which 
other  facts  insensibly  arrange  themselves.  Perhaps  no 
two  men  in  the  world,  who  are  well  versed  in  these 
studies,  connect  their  knowledge  in  the  same  manner. 
Relation  to  some  particular  country,  some  favourite 
history,  some  distinguished  person,  forms  the  connexion 
which  guides  our  recollection,  and  which  arranges  our 
nomenclature.  By  attending  to  what  passes  in  our  own 
minds,  we  may  learn  an  effectual  method  of  teaching 
without  pain,  and  without  any  extraordinary  burden  to 
the  memory,  all  that  is  useful  of  these  sciences.  The 
details  of  history  should  be  marked  by  a  few  chrono- 
logical eras,  and  by  a  few  general  ideas  of  geography. 
When  these  have  been  once  completely  associated  in 
the  mind,  there  is  little  danger  of  their  being  ever  dis- 
united :  the  sight  of  any  country  will  recall  its  history, 
and  even  from  representations  in  a  map,  or  on  the  globe, 
when  the  mind  is  awakened  by  any  recent  event,  a  long 
train  of  concomitant  ideas  will  recur. 

The  use  of  technical  helps  to  the  memory  has  been 
condemned  by  many,  and  certainly  when  they  are  em- 
ployed as  artifices  to  supply  the  place  of  real  knowledge, 
they  are  contemptible ;  but  when  they  are  used  as  in- 
dexes to  facts  that  have  been  really  collected  in  the 
mind ;  when  they  serve  to  arrange  the  materials  of 
knowledge  in  appropriate  classes,  and  to  give  a  sure 
and  rapid  clew  to  recollection,  they  are  of  real  advan- 
tage to  the  understanding.  Indeed,  they  are  now  so 
common,  that  pretenders  cannot  build  the  slightest  rep- 
utation upon  their  foundation.  Were  an  orator  to 
attempt  a  display  of  long  chronological  accuracy,  he 
might  be  wofully  confounded  by  his  opponent's  applying 
at  the  first  pause, 

*Els/w/c  he  would  have  said ! 

Ample  materials  are  furnished  in  Gray's  Memoria 
Technica,  from  which  a  short  and  useful  selection  may 
be  made,  according  to  the  purposes  which  are  in  view. 
For  children,  the  little  ballad  of  The  Chapter  of  Kings 
will  not  be  found  beneath  the  notice  of  mothers  who 

*  See  Gray's  Memoria  Technica,  and  the  Critic. 


GEOGRAPHY  AM'  CHRONOLOGY.         311 

attend  to  education.  If  the  technical  terminations  of 
Gray  are  inserted,  they  will  never  be  forgotten,  or  may 
be  easily  recalled.*  We  scarcely  jever  forget  a  ballad 
if  the  tune  is  popular. 

For  pupils  at  a  more  advanced  age,  it  will  be  found 
advantageous  to  employ  technical  helps  of  a  more  sci- 
entific construction.  Priestley's  Chart  of  Biography 
may,  from  time  to  time,  be  hung  in  their  view.  Smaller 
charts,  upon  the  same  plan,  might  be  provided  with  a 
few  names  as  landmarks  ;  these  may  be  filled  up  by  the 
pupil  with  such  names  as  he  selects  from  history  ;  they 
may  be  bound  in  octavo,  like  maps,  by  the  middle,  so 
as  to  unfold  both  ways. — Thirty-nine  inches  by  nine  will 
be  a  convenient  size.  Prints,  maps,  and  medals,  which 
are  part  of  the  constant  furniture  of  a  room,  are  seldom 
attended  to  by  young  people  ;  but  when  circumstances 
excite  an  interest  upon  any  particular  subject,  then  is 
the  moment  to  produce  the  symbols  which  record  and 
communicate  knowledge. 

Mrs.  Radcliffe,  in  her  judicious  and  picturesque  tour 
through  Germany,  tells  us,  that  in  passing  through  the 
apartments  of  a  palace  which  the  Archdutchess  Maria 
Christiana,  the  sister  of  the  late  unfortunate  Queen  of 
France,  had  left  a  few  hours  before,  she  saw  spread 
upon  a  table  a  map  of  all  the  countries  then  included 
in  the  seat  of  the  war.  The  positions  of  the  severa. 
corps  of  the  allied  armies  were  marked  upon  this 
chart  with  small  pieces  of  various  coloured  wax.  Can 
it  be  doubted,  that  the  strong  interest  which  this  prin- 
cess must  have  taken  in  the  subject,  would  for  ever 
impress  upon  her  memory  the  geography  of  this  part 
of  the  world  1 

How  many  people  are  there  who  have  become  geog- 
raphers during  the  progress  of  a  war.  The  art  of 
creating  an  interest  in  the  study  of  geography,  depends 
upon  the  dexterity  with  which  passing  circumstances 
are  seized  by  a  preceptor  in  conversation.  What  are 


*  Inctsai  of 

William  the  Conqueror  long  did  reign, 

And  William  his  son  by  an  arrow  was  t-Iftin  ; 

Read, 

William  the  Consau  long  did  reign, 

And  Ruf  koi  his  son  by  an  arrow  was  slam. 

And  so  on  from  Gray's  Memoria  Technica  to  the  end  of  the  chapter. 


312  PRACTICAL     EDUCATION. 

maps  or  medals,  statues  or  pictures,  but  technical  helps 
to  memory  ?  If  a  mother  possess  good  prints,  or  casts 
of  ancient  gems,  let  them  be  shown  to  any  persons  of 
taste  and  knowledge  who  visit  her ;  their  attention  leads 
that  of  our  pupils ;  imitation  and  sympathy  are  the 
parents  of  taste,  and  taste  reads  in  the  monuments  of 
.art  whatever  history  has  recorded. 

In  the  Adele  and  Theodore  of  Madame  de  Silleri,  a 
number  of  adventitious  helps  are  described  for  teaching 
history  and  chronology.  There  can  be  no  doubt  -that 
these  are  useful ;  and  although  such  an  apparatus  can- 
not be  procured  by  private  families,  fortunately  the 
print-shops  of  every  provincial  town,  and  of  the  capital 
in  particular,  furnish  even  to  the  passenger  a  continual 
succession  of  instruction.  Might  not  prints,  assorted 
for  the  purposes  which  we  have  mentioned,  be  lent  at 
circulating  libraries  "\ 

TO  assist  our  pupils  in  geography,  we  prefer  a  globe 
to  common  maps.  Might  not  a  cheap,  portable,  and 
convenient  globe  be  made  of  oiled  silk,  to  be  inflated 
by  a  common  pair  of  bellows  ?  Mathematical  exactness 
is  not  requisite  for  our  purpose,  and  though  we  could 
not  pretend  to  the  precision  of  our  best  globes,  yet  a 
balloon  of  this  sort  would  compensate  by  its  size  and 
convenience  for  its  inaccuracy.  It  might  be  hung  by 
a  line  from  its  north  pole,  to  a  hook  screwed  into  the 
horizontal  architrave  of  a  door  or  window ;  and  another 
string  from  its  south  pole  might  be  fastened  at  a  proper 
angle  to  the  floor,  to  give  the  requisite  elevation  to  the 
axis  of  the  globe.  An  idea  of  the  different  projections 
of  the  sphere  may  be  easily  acquired  from  this  globe 
in  its  flaccid  state,  and  any  part  of  it  might  be  consulted 
as  a  map,  if  it  were  laid  upon  a  convex  board  of  a  con- 
venient size.  Impressions  from  the  plates  which  are 
used  for  common  globes  might  be  taken  to  try  this  idea 
without  any  great  trouble  or  expense ;  but  we  wish  to 
employ  a  much  larger  scale,  and  to  have  them  five  or 
six  feet  diameter.  The  inside  of  a  globe  of  this  sort 
might  be  easily  illuminated,  and  this  would  add  much  to 
the  novelty  and  beauty  of  its  appearance. 

In  the  country,  with  the  assistance  of  a  common 
carpenter  and  plasterer,  a  large  globe  of  lath  and  plaster 
may  be  made  for  the  instruction  and  entertainment  of 
a  numerous  family  of  children.  Upon  this  they  should 
leisurely  delineate,  from  time  to  time,  by  their  given 


GEOGRAPHY    AND    CHRONOLOGY,  313 

latitudes  and  longitudes,  such  places  as  they  become 
acquainted  with  in  reading  or  conversation.  The  capital 
cities,  for  instance,  of  the  different  countries  of  Europe, 
the  rivers  and  the  neighbouring  towns,  until  at  last  the 
outline  might  be  added :  for  the  sake  of  convenience, 
the  lines,  &c.  may  be  first  delineated  upon  a  piece  of 
paper,  from  which  they  may  be  accurately  transferred 
to  their  proper  places  on  the  globe,'  by  the  intervention 
of  blackleaded  paper,  or  by  pricking  the  lines  through 
the  paper,  and  pouncing  powdered  blue  through  the 
holes  upon  the  surface  of  the  globe. 

We  enter  into  this  detail  because  we  are  convinced 
that  every  addition  to  the  active  manual  employment 
of  children  is  of  consequence,  not  only  to  their  im- 
provement, but  to  their  happiness. 

Another  invention  has  occurred  to  us  for  teaching 
geography  and  history  together.  Priestley's  Chart  of 
History,  though  constructed  with  great  ingenuity,  does 
not  invite  the  attention  of  young  people :  there  is  an 
intricacy  in  the  detail  which  is  not  obvious  at  first.  To 
remedy  what  appears  to  us  a  difficulty,  we  propose  that 
eight-and-twenty,  or  perhaps  thirty  octavo  maps  of  the 
globe  should  be  engraved  ;  upon  these  should  be  traced, 
in  succession,  the  different  situations  of  the  different 
countries  of  the  world,  as  to  power  and  extent,  during 
each  respective  century :  different  colours  might  denote 
the  principal  divisions  of  the  world  in  each  of  these 
maps  ;  the  same  colour  always  denoting  the  same  coun- 
try, with  the  addition  of  one  strong  colour,  red,  for 
instance,  to  distinguish  that  country  which  had  at  each 
period  the  principal  dominion.  On  the  upper  and  lower 
margin  in  these  maps,  the  names  of  illustrious  persons 
might  be  engraved  in  the  manner  of  the  biographical 
chart ;  and  the  predominant  opinions  of  each  century 
should  also  be  inserted.  Thus  history,  chronology, 
and  geography,  would  appear  at  once  to  the  eye  in 
their  proper  order  and  regular  succession,  divided  into 
centuries  and  periods,  which  easily  occur  to  recol- 
lection. 

We  forbear  to  expatiate  upon  this  subject,  as  it  has 
not  been  actually  submitted  to  experiment;  carefully 
avoiding,  in  the  whole  of  this  work,  to  recommend  any 
mode  of  instruction  which  we  have  not  actually  put  in 
practice.  For  this  reason,  we  have  not  spoken  of  the 
Abbe  Gaultier's  method  of  teaching  geography,  as  we 
27 


314         -  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

have  only  been  able  to  obtain  accounts  of  it  from  the 
public  papers,  and  from  reviews ;  we  are,  however,  dis- 
posed to  think  favourably  beforehand  of  any  mode  which 
unites  amusement  with  instruction.  We  cannot  forbear 
recommending,  in  the  strongest  manner,  a  few  pages  of 
Rollin  in  his  "  Thoughts  upon  Education,"*  which  we 
think  contains  an  excellent  specimen  of  the  manner  in 
which  a  well-informed  preceptor  might  lead  his  pupils  a 
geographical,  historical,  botanical,  and  physiological  tour 
upon  the  artificial  globe. 

We  conclude  this  chapter  of  hints  by  repeating  what 
we  have  before  asserted,  that  though  technical  assist- 
ance may  be  of  ready  use  to  those  who  are  really  ac- 
quainted with  that  knowledge  to  which  it  refers,  it 
never  can  supply  the  place  of  accurate  information. 

The  causes  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  empires,  the  prog- 
ress of  human  knowledge,  and  the  great  discoveries  of 
superior  minds,  are  the  real  links  which  connect  the 
chain  of  political  knowledge. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

ON   ARITHMETIC. 

THE  man  who  is  ignorant  that  two  and  two  make 
four,  is  stigmatized  with  the  character  of  hopeless  stu- 
pidity;  except,  as  Swift  has  remarked,  in  the  arithmetic 
of  the  customs,  where  two  and  two  do  not  always  make 
the  same  sum. 

We  must  not  judge  of  the  understanding  of  a  child  by 
this  test,  for  many  children  of  quick  abilities  do  not 
immediately  assent  to  this  proposition  when  it  is  first 
laid  before  them.  "  Two  and  two  make  four,"  says  the 
tutor.  "  Well,  child,  why  do  you  stare  so  1" 

The  child  stares  because  the  word  make  is  in  this  sen- 
tence used  in  a  sense  which  is  quite  new  to  him ;  he 
knows  what  it  is  to  make  a  bow,  and  to  make  a  noise ; 
but  how  this  active  verb  is  applicable  in  the  present 
case,  where  there  is  no  agent  to  perform  the  action,  he 

*  Page  24. 


ARITHMETIC.  315 

cannot  clearly  comprehend.  ;'  Two  and  two  are  four" 
is  more  intelligible ;  but  even  this  assertion,  the  child, 
for  want  of  a  distinct  notion  of  the  sense  in  which  the 
word  are  is  used,  does  not  understand. 

"  Two  and  two  are  called  four,"  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
accurate  phrase  a  tutor  can  use ;  but  even  these  words 
will  convey  no  meaning  until  they  have  been  associated 
with  the  pupil's  perceptions.  When  he  has  once  per- 
ceived the  combination  of  the  numbers  with  real  objects, 
it  will  then  be  easy  to  teach  him  that  the  words  are 
called,  are,  and  make,  in  the  foregoing  proposition,  are 
synonymous  terms.  We  have  chosen  the  first  simple 
instance  we  could  recollect,  to  show  how  difficult  the 
words  we  generally  use  in  teaching  arithmetic  must  be 
to  our  young  pupils.  It  would  be  an  unprofitable  task 
to  enumerate  all  the  puzzling  technical  terms  which,  in 
their  earliest  lessons,  children  are  obliged  to  hear,  with- 
out being  able  to  understand. 

It  is  not  from  want  of  capacity  that  so  many  chil- 
dren are  deficient  in  arithmetical  skill ;  and  it  is  absurd 
to  say,  "such  a  child  has  no  genius  for  arithmetic. 
Such  a  child  cannot  be  made  to  comprehend  any  thing 
about  numbers."  These  assertions  prove  nothing,  but 
that  the  persons  who  make  them  are  ignorant  of  the 
art  of  teaching.  A  child's  seeming  stupidity  in  learning 
arithmetic,  may,  perhaps,  be  a  proof  of  intelligence  and 
good  sense.  It  is  easy  to  make  a  boy,  who  does  not 
reason,  repeat  by  rote  any  technical  rules  which  a  com- 
mon writingmaster,  with  magisterial  solemnity,  may 
lay  down  for  him ;  but  a  child  who  reasons  will  not  be 
thus  easily  managed :  he  stops,  frowns,  hesitates,  ques- 
tions his  master,  is  wretched  and  refractory,  until  he 
can  discover  why  he  is  to  proceed  in  such  and  such  a 
manner;  he  is  not  content  with  seeing  his  preceptor 
make  figures  and  lines  upon  a  slate,  and  perform  won- 
drous operations  with  the  self-complacent  dexterity  of 
a  conjurer.  A  sensible  boy  is  not  satisfied  with  merely 
seeing  the  total  of  a  given  sum,  or  the  answer  to  a  given 
question,  come  out  right ;  he  insists  upon  knowing  why 
it  is  right.  He  is  not  content  to  be  led  to  the  treasures 
of  science  blindfold  ;  he  would  tear  the  bandage  from 
his  eyes,  that  he  may  know  the  way  to  them  again. 

That  many  children,  who  have  been  thought  to  be 
slow  in  learning  arithmetic,  have,  after  their  escape 
from  the  hands  of  pedagogues,  become  remarkable  for 
02 


316  PRACTICAL    EDUCATICN. 

their  quickness,  is  a  fact  sufficiently  proved  by  experi- 
ence. We  shall  only  mention  one  instance,  which  we 
happened  to  meet  with  while  we  were  writing  this 
chapter.  John  Ludwig,  a  Saxon  peasant,  was  dismissed 
from  school  when  he  was  a  child,  after  four  years 
ineffectual  struggle  to  learn  the  common  rules  of 
arithmetic.  He  had  been,  during  this  time,  beaten  and 
scolded  in  vain.  He  spent  several  subsequent  years  in 
common  country  labour,  but  at  length  some  accidental 
circumstances  excited  his  ambition,  and  he  became  ex- 
pert in  all  the  common  rules,  and  mastered  the  rule  of 
three  and  fractions,  by  the  help  of  an  old  school-book, 
in  the  course  of  one  year.  He  afterward  taught  him- 
self geometry,  and  raised  himself,  by  the  force  of  his 
abilities  and  perseverance,  from  obscurity  to  fame. 

We  should  like  to  see  the  book  which  helped  Mr. 
Ludwig  to  conquer  his  difficulties.  Introductions  to 
arithmetic  are,  often,  calculated  rather  for  adepts  in 
science  than  for  the  ignorant.  We  do  not  pretend  to 
have  discovered  any  shorter  method  than  what  is  com- 
mon, of  teaching  these  sciences;  but,  in  conformity 
with  the  principles  which  are  laid  down  in  the  former 
part  of  this  work,  we  have  endeavoured  to  teach  their 
rudiments  without  disgusting  our  pupils,  and  without 
habituating  them  to  be  contented  with  merely  technical 
operations. 

In  arithmetic,  as  in  every  other  branch  of  education, 
the  principal  object  should  be,  to  preserve  the  under- 
standing from  implicit  belief ;  to  invigorate  its  powers ; 
to  associate  pleasure  with  literature ;  and  to  induce  the 
laudable  ambition  of  progressive  improvement. 

As  soon  as  a  child  can  read  he  should  be  accustomed 
to  count,  and  to  have  the  names  of  numbers  early  con- 
nected in  his  mind  with  the  combinations  which  they 
represent.  For  this  purpose,  he  should  be  taught  to  add 
first  by  things,  and  afterward  by  signs  or  figures.  He 
should  be  taught  to  form  combinations  of  things  by 
adding  them  together  one  after  another.  At  the  same 
time  that  he  acquires  the  names  that  have  been  given  to 
these  combinations,  he  should  be  taught  the  figures  or 
symbols  that  represent  them.  For  example,  when  it  is 
familiar  to  the  child  that  one  almond  and  one  almond 
are  called  two  almonds ;  that  one  almond  and  two 
almonds  are  called  three  almonds,  and  so  on,  he  should 
be  taught  to  distinguish  the  figures  that  represent  these 


ARITHMETIC.  317 

assemblages ;  that  three  means  one  and  two,  &c.  Each 
operation  of  arithmetic  should  proceed  in  this  manner, 
from  individuals  to  the  abstract  notation  of  signs. 

One  of  the  earliest  operations  of  the  reasoning  faculty 
is  abstraction ;  that  is  to  say,  the  power  of  classing  a 
number  of  individuals  under  one  name.  Young  children 
call  strangers  either  men  or  women;  even  the  most 
ignorant  savages*  have  a  propensity,  to  generalize. 

We  may  err  either  by  accustoming  our  pupils  too 
much  to  the  consideration  of  tangible  substances  when 
we  teach  them  arithmetic,  or  by  turning  their  attention 
too  much  to  signs.  The  art  of  forming  a  sound  and 
active  understanding,  consists  in  the  due  mixture  of 
facts  and  reflection.  Dr.  Reid  has,  in  his  "  Essay  on 
the  Intellectual  Powers  of  Man,"  page  297,  pointed  out, 
with  great  ingenuity,  the  admirable  economy  of  nature 
in  limiting  the  powers  of  reasoning  during  the  first  years 
of  infancy.  This  is  the  season  for  cultivating  the 
senses ;  and  whoever,  at  this  early  age,  endeavours  to 
force  the  tender  shoots  of  reason,  will  repent  his  rash-- 
ness. 

In  the  chapter  "  on  Toys,"  we  have  recommended  the 
use  of  plain,  regular  solids,  cubes,  globes,  &c.,  made  of 
wood,  as  playthings  for  children,  instead  of  uncouth  fig- 
ures of  men,  women,  and  animals.  For  teaching  arith- 
metic, half  inch  cubes,  which  can  be  easily  grasped  by  in- 
fant fingers,  may  be  employed  with  great  advantage ;  they 
can  be  easily  arranged  in  various  combinations  ;  the  eye 
can  easily  take  in  a  sufficient  number  of  them  at  once,  and 
the  mind  is  insensibly  led  to  consider  the  assemblages  in 
which  they  may  be  grouped,  not  only  as  they  relate  to 
number,  but  as  they  relate  to  quantity  or  shape ;  besides, 
the  terms  which  are  borrowed  from  some  of  these 
shapes,  as  squares,  cubes,  &c.,  will  become  familiar. 
As  these  children  advance  in  arithmetic  to  square  or 
cube,  a  number  will  be  more  intelligible  to  them  than  to 
a  person  who  has  been  taught  these  words  merely  as 
the  formula  of  certain  rules.  In  arithmetic,  the  first 
lessons  should  be  short  and  simple ;  two  cubes  placed 
above  each  other  will  soon  be  called  two ;  if  placed  in 
any  other  situations  near  each  other,  they  will  still  be 
called  two;  but  it  is  advantageous  to  accustom  our  little 

*  See  a  strange  instance  quoted  by  Mr.  Stewart,  "  On  the  Human 
Mind." 


318  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

pupils  to  place  the  cubes  with  which  they  are  taught  in 
succession,  either  by  placing  them  upon  one  another,  or 
laying  them  in  columns  upon  a  table,  beginning  to  count 
from  the  cube  next  to  them,  as  we  cast  up  in  addition. 
For  this  purpose,  aboard  about  six  inches  long  and  five 
broad,  divided  into  columns  perpendicularly  by  slips  of 
wood  three  eighths  of  an  inch  wide  and  one  eighth  of 
an  inch  thick,  will  be  found  useful ;  and  if  a  few  cubes 
of  colours  different  from  those  already  mentioned,  with 
numbers  on  their  six  sides,  are  procured,  they  may  be 
of  great  service.  Our  cubes  should  be  placed,  from  time 
to  time,  in  a  different  order,  or  promiscuously ;  but  when 
any  arithmetical  operations  are  to  be  performed  with 
them,  it  is  best  to  preserve  the  established  arrangement. 

One  cube  and  one  other,  are  called  two. 

Two  what  ? 

Two  cubes. 

One  glass  and  one  glass,  are  called  two  glasses.  One 
raisin  and  one  raisin,  are  called  two  raisins,  &c.  One 
cube  and  one  glass,  are  called  what  ?  Two  things,  or 
two. 

By  a  process  of  this  sort,  the  meaning  of  the  abstract 
term  two  may  be  taught.  A  child  will  perceive  that  the 
word  two  means  the  same  as  the  words  one  and  one ; 
and  when  we  say  one  and  one  are  called  two,  unless  he 
is  prejudiced  by  something  else  that  is  said  to  him,  he 
will  understand  nothing  more  than  that  there  are  two 
names  for  the  same  thing. 

"  One,  and  one, and  one,  are  called  three,"  is  the  same 
as  saying  "  that  three  is  the  name  for  one,  and  one,  and 
one." — "  Two  and  one  are  three,"  is  also  the  same  as 
saying  "  that  three  is  the  name  of  two  and  one."  Three 
is  also  the  name  of  one  and  two ;  the  word  three  has. 
therefore,  three  meanings  ;  it  means  one,  and  one,  and 
one ;  also,  two  and  one  ;  also,  one  and  two.  He  will 
see  that  any  two  of  the  cubes  may  be  put  together,  as 
it  were,  in  one  parcel,  and  that  this  parcel  may  be  called 
two ;  and  he  will  also  see  that  this  parcel,  when  joined 
to  another  single  cube,  will  make  three,  and  that  the  sum 
will  be  the  same,  whether  the  single  cube  or  the  two 
cubes  be  named  first. 

In  a  similar  manner,  the  combinations  which  form 
four  may  be  considered.  One,  and  one,  and  one,  and 
one,  are  four. 

One  and  three  are  four. 


ARITHMRTIC. 


319 


Two  and  two  are  four. 

Three  and  one  are  four. 

All  these  assertions  mean  the  same  thing,  and  the 
term  four  is  equally  applicable  to  each  of  them  :  when, 
therefore,  we  say  that  two  and  two  are  four,  the  child 
may  be  easily  led  to  perceive,  and  indeed  to  see,  that  it 
means  the  same  thing  as  saying  one  two  and  one  two, 
which  is  the  same  thing  as  saying  two  twos,  or  saying 
the  word  two  two  times.  Our  pupil  should  be  suffered 
to  rest  here  ;  and  we  should  not,  at  present,  attempt  to 
lead  him  farther  towards  that  compendious  method  of 
addition  which  we  call  multiplication ;  but  the  founda- 
tion is  laid  by  giving  him  this  view  of  the  relation  be- 
'  ween  two  and  two  in  forming  four. 

There  is  an  enumeration  in  the  note*  of  the  different 


*  Two  is  1 

the      — 

name  for  2 


1 

1       1 
1       2 


1 

1  1 

1  1  1 

1  2   3 


1 

1  1 

1  1 

1  1 


1 
1     1 


2     1 


2234 


2345222233 


6666  6  666666 


320 


PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 


combinations  which  compose  the  rest  of  Arabic  nota- 
tion, which  consists  only  of  nine  characters. 

Before  we  proceed  to  the  number  ten,  or  to  the  new 
series  of  enumeration  which  succeeds  to  it,  we  should 
make  our  pupils  perfectly  masters  of  the  combinations 


1 
1 
1 
1 

1 
1 

1 

1 
1 

NOTE. 
1       1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1     1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

3     4 

5 

2 

3     4 

1 

2     3 

4 

5 

6 

2 

2 

2    2 

2 

3 

3     3 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1     2 

1 

1 

I 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2     2 

1 

2 

1     2     1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2     2 

2 

2 

334 

2     3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

2 

2     2 

3 

3 

333 

8 

8     8 

8 

8 

8 

8 

8 

8     8 

8 

8 

888 

1     2 

1 

1 

5 

2     2 

3 

4 

2 

2 

3 

4     4 

4 

4 

5 

6 

8888888 


1 

. 

1 

1 

1 

i 

1 

1 

1 

1 

1 

i 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

i 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

2 

i 

1 

1      1 

2 

2 

2 

2 

2 

1 

2   : 

j   ' 

I     5 

6 

7     8 

2 

2 

2 

3 

3 

9     9     9     9     9 


9     9 


ARITHMETIC.  321 

which  we  have  mentioned,  both  in  the  direct  order  in 
which  they  are  arranged,  and  in  various  modes  of  suc- 
cession ;  by  these  means,  not  only  the  addition,  but  the 
subtraction,  of  numbers  as  far  as  nine,  will  be  perfectly 
familiar  to  them. 

It  has  been  observed  before,  that  counting  by  realities 
and  by  signs  should  be  taught  at  the  same  time,  so  that 
the  ear,  the  eye,  and  the  mind  should  keep  pace  with 
one  another ;  and  that  technical  habits  should  be  ac- 
quired without  injury  to  the  understanding.  If  a  child 
begins  between  four  and  five  years  of  age,  he  may  be 
allowed  half  a  year  for  this  essential  preliminary  step  in 
arithmetic  ;  four  or  five  minutes'  application  every  day, 
will  be  sufficient  to  teach  him  not  only  the  relations  of 
the  first  decade  in  numeration,  but  also  how  to  write 
figures  with  accuracy  and  expedition. 

The  next  step  is  by  far  the  most  difficult  in  the  science 
of  arithmetic  ;  in  treatises  upon  the  subject,  it  is  con- 
cisely passed  over  under  the  title  of  Numeration ;  but  it 
requires  no  small  degree  of  care  to  make  it  intelligible 
to  children,  and  we  therefore  recommend,  that  besides 
direct  instruction  upon  the  subject,  the  child  should  be 
led,  by  degrees,  to  understand  the  nature  of  classification 
in  general.  Botany  and  natural  history,  though  they  are 
not  pursued  as  sciences,  are,  notwithstanding,  the  daily 
occupation  and  amusement  of  children,  and  they  supply 
constant  examples  of  classification.  In  conversation, 
these  maybe  familiarly  pointed  out;  a  grove,  a  flock, 
&c.,  are  constantly  before  the  eyes  of  our  pupil,  and  he 
comprehends  as  well  as  we  do  what  is  meant  by  two 
groves,  two  flocks,  &c.  The  trees  that  form  the  grove 
are  each  of  them  individuals  ;  but  let  their  numbers  be 
what  they  may  when  they  are  considered  as  a  grove, 
the  grove  is  but  one,  and  may  be  thought  of  and  spoken 
of  distinctly,  without  any  relation  to  the  number  of 
single  trees  which  it  contains.  ^From  these  and  similar 

NOTE. 
1 

11         11       1 
23121     121     121 
33445622452222 
33333344445567 

99999999990999 
03 


322  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

observations,  a  child  may  be  led  to  consider  ten  as  the 
name  for  a  whole,  an  integer ;  a  one,  which  may  be  rep- 
resented by  the  figure  (1) :  this  same  figure  may  also 
stand  for  a  hundred  or  a  thousand,  as  he  will  readily 
perceive  hereafter.  Indeed,  the  term  one  hundred  will 
become  familiar  to  him  in  conversation  long  before  he 
comprehends  that  the  word  ten  is  used  as  an  aggregate 
term,  like  a  dozen,  or  a  thousand.  We  do  not  use  the 
word  ten  as  the  French  do  une  dizaine ;  ten  does  not, 
therefore,  present  the  idea  of  an  integer  till  we  learn 
arithmetic.  This  is  a  defect  in  our  language,  which  has 
arisen  from  the  use  of  duodecimal  numeration  ;  the 
analogies  existing  between  the  names  of  other  numbers 
in  progression  are  broken  by  the  terms  eleven  and  twelve. 
Thirteen,  fourteen,  &c.,  are  so  obviously  compounded  of 
three  and  ten,  and  four  and  ten,  as  to  strike  the  ears 
of  children  immediately  ;  and  when  they  advance  as  far 
as  twenty,  they  readily  perceive  that  a  new  series  of 
units  begins,  and  proceeds  to  thirty ;  and  that  thirty, 
forty,  &c.,  mean  three  tens,  four  tens,  &c.  In  pointing 
out  these  analogies  to  children,  they  become  interested 
and  attentive ;  they  show  that  species  of  pleasure  which 
arises  from  the  perception  of  aptitude,  or  of  truth.  It 
can  scarcely  be  denied  that  such  a  pleasure  exists  in- 
dependently of  every  view  of  utility  and  fame  ;  and 
when  we  can  once  excite  this  feeling  in  the  minds  of 
our  young  pupils  at  any  period  of  their  education,  we 
may  be  certain  of  success. 

As  soon  as  distinct  notions  have  been  acquired  of  the 
manner  in  which  a  collection  of  ten  units  becomes  a 
new  unit  of  a  higher  order,  our  pupil  may  be  led  to  ob- 
serve the  utility  of  this  invention  by  various  examples, 
before  he  applies  it  to  the  rules  of  arithmetic.  Let  him 
count  as  far  as  ten  with  black  pebbles,*  for  instance  ;  let 
him  lay  aside  a  white  pebble  to  represent  the  collection 
of  ten ;  he  may  count  another  series  of  ten  black  peb- 
bles, and  lay  aside  another  white  one  ;  and  so  on,  till  he 
has  collected  ten  white  pebbles  :  as  eachof  the  ten  white 
pebbles  represents  ten  black  pebbles,  he  will  have  counted 
one  hundred ;  and  the  ten  white  pebbles  may  now  be 
represented  by  a  single  red  one,  which  will  stand  for 
one  hundred.  This  large  number,  which  it  takes  up  so 
much  time  to  count,  and  which  could  not  be  compre- 

*  The  word  calculate  is  derived  from  the  Latin  calculus,  a  pebble. 


ARITHMETI    .  323 

bended  at  one  view,  is  represented  by  a  single  sign. 
Here  the  difference  of  colour  forms  the  distinction  :  dif- 
ference in  shape  or  size  would  answer  the  same  pur- 
pose, as  in  the  Roman  notation,  X  for  ten,  L  for  fifty, 
C  for  one  hundred,  &c.  All  this  is  fully  within  the 
comprehension  of  a  child  of  six  years  old,  and  will  lead 
him  to  the  value  of  written  figures  by  the  place  which 
they  hold  when  compared  with  one  another.  Indeed,  he 
may  be  led  to  invent  this  arrangement,  a  circumstance 
which  would  encourage  him  in  every  part  of  his  educa- 
tion. When  once  he  clearly  comprehends  that  the  third 
place,  counting  from  the  right,  contains  only  figures 
which  represent  hundreds,  &c.,  he  will  have  conquered 
one  of  the  greatest  difficulties  of  arithmetic.  If  a 
paper  ruled  with  several  perpendicular  lines,  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  asunder,  be  shown  to  him,  he  will  see 
that  the  spaces  or  columns  between  these  lines  would 
distinguish  the  value  of  figures  written  in  them,  with- 
out the  use  of  the  sign  (0),  and  he  will  see  that  (0)  or 
zero,  serves  only  to  mark  the  place  or  situation  of  the 
neighbouring  figures. 

An  idea  of  decimal  arithmetic,  but  without  detail, 
may  now  be  given  to  him,  as  it  will  not  appear  extraor- 
dinary to  him  that  a  unit  should  represent  ten  by  having 
its  place  or  column  changed ;  and  nothing  more  is 
necessary  in  decimal  arithmetic,  than  to  consider  that 
figure  which  represented,  at  one  time,  an  integer,  or 
whole,  as  representing  at  another  time  the  number 
of  tenth  parts  into  which  that  whole  may  have  been 
broken. 

Our  pupil  may  next  be  taught  what  is  called  numer- 
ation, which  he  cannot  fail  to  understand,  and  in  which 
he  should  be  frequently  exercised.  Common  addition 
will  be  easily  understood  by  a  child  who  distinctly  per- 
ceives that  the  perpendicular  columns,  or  places  in  which 
figures  are  written,  may  distinguish  their  value  under 
various  different  denominations,  as  gallons,  furlongs, 
shillings,  &c.  We  should  not  tease  children  with  long 
sums  in  avoirdupois  weight,  or  load  their  frail  memories 
with  tables  of  long-measure,  and  dry- measure,  and  ale- 
measure  in  the  country  and  ale-measure  in  London; 
only  let  them  cast  up  a  few  sums  in  different  denomina- 
tions, with  the  tables  before  them,  and  let  the  practice 
of  addition  be  preserved  in  their  minds  by  short  sums 
every  day,  and  when  they  are  between  six  and  seven 


324  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

years  old,  they  will  be  sufficiently  masters  of  the  first 
and  most  useful  rule  of  arithmetic. 

To  children  who  have  been  trained  in  this  manner, 
subtraction  will  be  quite  easy ;  care,  however,  should 
be  taken  to  give  them  a  clear  notion  of  the  mystery  of 
borrowing  and  paying,  which  is  inculcated  in  teaching 
subtraction. 

From  94 

Subtract       46 

*'  Six  from  four  I  can't,  but  six  from  ten  and  four  re- 
mains ;  four  and  four  is  eight." 

And  then,  "  One  that  I  borrowed  and  four  are  five, 
five  from  nine,  and  four  remains." 

This  is  the  formula ;  but  is  it  ever  explained — or  can 
it  be  1  Certainly  not  without  some  alteration.  A  child 
sees  that  six  cannot  be  subtracted  (taken)  from  four : 
more  especially  a  child  who  is  familiarly  acquainted 
with  the  component  parts  of  the 'names  six  and  four  : 
he  sees  that  the  sum  46  is  less  than  the  sum  94,  and  he 
knows  that  the  lesser  sum  may  be  subtracted  from  the 
greater ;  but  he  does  not  perceive  the  means  of  sep- 
arating them  figure  by  figure.  Tell  him,  that  though 
six  cannot  be  deducted  from  four,  yet  it  can  from  four- 
teen, and  that  if  one  of  the  tens  which  are  contained  in 
the  (9)  ninety  in  the  uppermost  row  of  the  second 
column,  be  supposed  to  be  taken  away,  or  borrowed, 
from  the  ninety,  and  added  to  the  four,  the  nine  will  be 
reduced  to  8  (eighty),  and  the  four  will  become  fourteen. 
Our  pupil  will  comprehend  this  most  readily ;  he  will 
see  that  6,  which  could  not  be  subtracted  from  4,  may 
be  subtracted  from  fourteen,  and  he  will  remember  that 
the  9  in  the  next  column  is  to  be  considered  as  only  (8). 
To  avoid  confusion,  he  may  draw  a  stroke  across  the 
(9)  and  write  8  over*  it  (£),  and  proceed  to  the  remainder 
of  the  operation.  This  method  for  beginners  is  cer- 
tainly very  distinct,  and  may,  for  some  time,  be  em- 
ployed with  advantage ;  and  after  its  rationale  has  be- 
come familiar,  we  may  explain  the  common  method 
which  depends  upon  this  consideration. 

"  If  one  number  is  to  be  deducted  from  another,  the 
remainder  will  be  the  same,  whether  we  add  any  given 

*  This  method  is  recommended  in  the  Cours  de  Math,  par 
^•amus,  p.  38. 


ARITHMETIC.  325 

number  to  the  smaller  number,  or  take  away  the  same 
given  number  from  the  larger."    For  instance  : 
Let  the  larger  number  be          ...        9 
And  the  smaller        .....         4 
If  you  deduct  3  from  the  larger  it  will  be        6 
From  this  subtract  the  smaller         .  4 

The  remainder  will  be  ...        2 

Or  if  you  add  3  to  the  smaller  number,  it  will  be  7 
Subtract  this  from  the  larger  number       .        9 

The  remainder  will  be  ...        2 

Now  in  the  common  method  of  subtraction,  the  one 
which  is  borrowed  is  taken  from  the  uppermost  figure 
in  the  adjoining  column ;  and  instead  of  altering  that 
figure  to  one  less,  we  add  one  to  the  lowest  figure,  which, 
as  we  have  just  shown,  will  have  the  same  effect.  The 
terms,  however,  that  are  commonly  used  in  performing 
this  operation,  are  improper.  To  say  "  one  that  I 
borrowed,  and  four"  (meaning  the  lowest  figure  in  the 
adjoining  column)  implies  the  idea  that  what  was  bor- 
rowed is  now  to  be  repaid  to  that  lowest  figure,  which 
is  not  the  fact*  As  to  multiplication,  we  have  little  to 
say.  Our  pupil  should  be  furnished,  in  the  first  instance, 
with  a  table  containing  the  addition  of  the  different 
units  which  form  the  different  products  of  the  multi- 
plication table  :  these  he  should,  from  time  to  time,  add 
up  as  an  exercise  in  addition ;  and  it  should  be  frequently 
pointed  out  to  him,  that  adding  these  figures  so  many 
times  over  is  the  same  as  multiplying  them  by  the  num- 
ber of  times  that  they  are  added ;  as  three  times  3 
means  3  added  three  times.  Here  one  of  the  figures 
represents  a  quantity,  the  other  does  not  represent  a 
quantity  ;  it  denotes  nothing  but  the  times,  or  frequency 
of  repetition.  Young  people,  as  they  advance,  are  apt 
to  confound  these  signs,  and  to  imagine,  for  instance,  in. 
the  rule  of  three,  &c.,  that  the  sums  which  they  multi- 
ply together  mean  quantities ;  that  40  yards  of  linen 
may  be  multiplied  by  three  and  sixpence,  &c. — an  idea 
from  which  the  misstatements  in  sums  that  are  intri- 
cate, frequently  arise. 

We  have  heard  that  the  multiplication  table  has  been 
28 


326  PRACTICAL  KDUCATION. 

set,  like  The  Chapter  of  Kings,  to  a  cheerful  tune.  This 
is  a  species  of  technical  memory  which  we  have  long 
practised,  and  which  can  do  no  harm  to  the  understand- 
ing ;  it  prevents  the  mind  from  no  beneficial  exertion, 
and  may  save  much  irksome  labour.  It  is  certainly  to 
be  wished,  that  our  pupil  should  be  expert  in  the  multi- 
plication table ;  if  the  cubes  which  we  have  formerly 
mentioned  be  employed  for  this  purpose,  the  notion 
of  squaring  figures  will  be  introduced  at  the  same  time 
that  the  multiplication  table  is  committed  to  memory. 

In  division,  what  is  called  the  Italian  method  of  ar- 
ranging the  divisor  and  quotient  appears  to  be  prefer- 
able to  the  common  one,  as  it  places  them  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  be  easily  multiplied  by  each  other,  and  as 
it  agrees  with  algebraic  notation. 

The  usual  method  is  this : 
Divisor 

71)83467(1175 
Italian  method : 
Dividend 


83467 


71 


1175 

The  rule  of  three  is  commonly  taught  in  a  manner 
merely  technical :  that  it  may  be  learn^l  in  this  man- 
ner, so  as  to  answer  the  common  purposes  of  life,  there 
can  be  no  doubt ;  and  nothing  is  farther  from  our  design 
than  to  depreciate  any  mode  of  instruction  which  has 
been  sanctioned  by  experience :  but  our  purpose  is  to 
point  out  methods  of  conveying  instruction  that  shall 
improve  the  reasoning  faculty,  and  habituate  our  pupil 
to  think  upon  every  subject.  We  wish,  therefore,  to 
point  out  the  course  which  the  mind  would  follow  to 
solve  problems  relative  to  proportion  without  the  rule, 
and  to  turn  our  pupil's  attention  to  the  circumstances  in 
which  the  rule  assists  us. 

The  calculation  of  the  price  of  any  commodity,  or 
the  measure  of  any  quantity,  where  the  first  term  is  one, 
may  be  always  stated  as  a  sum  in  the  rule  of  three  ;  but 
as  this  statement  retards,  instead  of  expediting  the 
operation,  it  is  never  practised. 

If  one  yard  costs  a  shilling,  how  much  will  three  yards 
cost "? 

The  mind  immediately  perceives,  that  the  price  added 
three  times  together,  or  multiplied  by  three,  gives  the 


ARITHMETIC.  327 

answer.  If  a  certain  number  of  apples  are  to  be  equally 
distributed  among  a  certain  number  of  boys,  if  the  share 
of  one  is  one  apple,  the  share  of  ten  or  twenty  is  plainly 
equal  to  ten  or  twent)'-.  But  if  we  state  that  the  share 
of  three  boys  is  twelve  apples,  and  ask  what  number 
will  be  sufficient  for  nine  boys,  the  answer  is  not  ob- 
vious ;  it  requires  consideration.  Ask  our  pupil  what 
made  it  so  easy  to  answer  the  last  question,  he  will 
readily  say,  "  Because  I  knew  what  was  the  share  of 
one." 

Then  you  could  answer  this  new  question  if  you  knew 
the  share  of  one  boy  ? 

Yes. 

Cannot  you  find  out  what  the  share  of  one  boy  is 
when  the  share  of  three  boys  is  twelve  ? 

Four. 

What  number  of  apples  then  will  be  enough,  at  tho 
same  rate,  for  nine  boys  1 

Nine  times  four,  that  is  thirty-six. 

In  this  process  he  does  nothing  more  than  divide  the 
second  number  by  the  first,  and  multiply  the  quotient  by 
the  third  ;  12  divided  by  3  is  4,  which  multiplied  by  9  is 
36.  And  this  is,  in  truth,  the  foundation  of  the  rule ; 
for  though  the  golden  rule  facilitates  calculation,  and 
contributes  admirably  to  our  convenience,  it  is  not  ab- 
solutely necessary  to  the  solution  of  questions  relating 
to  proportion. 

Again,  "  If  the  share  of  three  boys  is  five  apples,  how 
many  will  be  sufficient  for  nine  ?w " 

Our  pupil  will  attempt  to  proceed  as  in  the  former 
question,  and  will  begin  by  endeavouring  to  find  out  the 
share  of  one  of  the  three  boys ;  but  this  is  not  quite 
so  easy ;  he  will  see  that  each  is  to  have  one  apple, 
and  part  of  another ;  but  it  will  cost  him  some  pains 
to  determine  exactly  how  much.  When  at  length  he 
finds  that  one  and  two  thirds  is  the  share  of  one  boy, 
before  he  can  answer  the  question,  he  must  multiply 
one  and  two  thirds  by  nine,  which  is  an  operation  in 
fractions,  a  rule  of  which  he  at  present  knows  nothing. 
But  if  he  begins  by  multiplying  the  second,  instead  of 
dividing  it  previously  by  the  first  number,  he  will  avoid 
the  embarrassment  occasioned  by  fractional  parts,  and 
will  easily  solve  the  question. 


PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

3  :  5  :  9  :   15 

Multiply  5 

by       .     9 

it  makes         45 
which  product  45,  divided  by  3,  gives  15. 

Here  our  pupil  perceives,  that  if  a  given  number, 
12,  for  instance,  is  to  be  divided  by  one  number  and 
multiplied  by  another,  it  will  come  to  the  same  thing, 
whether  he  begins  by  dividing  the  given  number,  or  by 
multiplying  it. 

12  divided  by  4  is  3,  which 

multiplied  by  6  is  18  : 

And 

12  multiplied  by  6  is  72,  which 

divided  by  4  is  18. 

We  recommend  it  to  preceptors  not  to  fatigue  the 
memories  of  their  young  pupils  with  sums  which  are 
difficult  only  from  the  number  of  figures  which  they  re- 
quire, but  rather  to  give  examples  in  practice,  where 
aliquot  parts  are  to  be  considered,  and  where  their 
ingenuity  may  be  employed  without  exhausting  their 
patience.  A  variety  of  arithmetical  questions  occur  in 
common  conversation,  and  from  common  incidents  ; 
these  should  be  made  a  subject  of  inquiry,  and  our  pupils, 
among  others,  should  try  their  skill:  in  short,  what- 
ever can  be  taught  in  conversation,  is  clear  gain  in 
instruction. 

We  should  observe,  that  every  explanation  upon  these 
subjects  should  be  recurred  to  from  time  to  time,  per- 
haps every  two  or  three  months ;  as  there  are  no  cir- 
cumstances in  the  business  of  every  day,  which  recall 
abstract  speculations  to  the  minds  of  children  ;  and  the 
pupil  who  understands  them  to-day,  may,  without  any 
deficiency  of  memory,  forget  them  entirely  in  a  few 
weeks.  Indeed,  the  perception  of  the  chain  of  reason- 
ing, which  connects  demonstration,  is  what  makes  it 
truly  advantageous  in  education.  Whoever  has  occa- 
sion, in  the  business  of  life,  to  make  use  of  the  rule  of 
three,  may  learn  it  effectually  in  a  month  as  well  as  in 
ten  years ;  but  the  habit  of  reasoning  cannot  be  ac- 
quired late  in  life,  without  unusual  labour  and  uncom- 
mon fortitude. 


GEOMETRY.  329 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

GEOMETRY. 

THERE  is  certainly  no  royal  road  to  Geometry,  but  the 
way  may  be  rendered  easy  and  pleasant  by  timely  prep- 
arations for  the  journey. 

Without  any  previous  knowledge  of  the  country,  or 
of  its  peculiar  language,  how  can  we  expect  that  our 
young  traveller  should  advance  with  facility  or  pleasure  1 
We  are  anxious  that  our  pupil  should  acquire  a  taste  for 
accurate  reasoning,  and  we  resort  to  Geometry,  as  the 
most  perfect  and  the  purest  series  of  ratiocination 
which  has  been  invented.  Let  us,  then,  sedulously  avoid 
whatever  may  disgust  him ;  let  his  first  steps  be  easy 
and  successful ;  let  them  be  frequently  repeated,  until  he 
can  trace  them  without  a  guide. 

We  have  recommended,  in  the  chapter  upon  Toys,  that 
children  should,  from  their  earliest  years,  be  accustomed 
to  the  shape  of  what  are  commonly  called  regular  solids  ; 
they  should  also  be  accustomed  to  the  figures  in  mathe- 
matical diagrams.  To  these  should  be  added  their  re- 
spective names,  and  the  whole  language  of  the  science 
should  be  rendered  as  familiar  as  possible. 

Mr.  Donne,  an  ingenious  mathematician  of  Bristol, 
has  published  a  prospectus  of  an  Essay  on  Mechanical 
Geometry :  he  has  executed,  and  employed  with  suc- 
cess, models  in  wood  and  metal,  for  demonstrating  prop- 
ositions in  geometry  in  a  palpable  manner.  We  have 
endeavoured  in  vain  to  procure  a  set  of  these  models 
for  our  own  pupils,  but  we  have  no  doubt  of  their  en- 
tire utility. 

What  has  been  acquired  in  childhood  should  not  be 
suffered  to  escape  the  memory.  Dionysius*  had  mathe- 
matical diagrams  described  upon  the  floors  of  his  apart- 
ments, and  thus  recalled  their  demonstrations  to  his 
memory.  The  slightest  addition  that  can  be  conceived, 
if  it  be  continued  daily,  will,  imperceptibly,  not  only 

*  Plutarch.— Life  of  Dion. 


330  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

preserve  what  has  been  already  acquired,  but  will  in  a 
few  years  amount  to  as  large  a  stock  of  mathematical 
knowledge  as  we  could  wish.  It  is  not  our  object  to 
make  mathematicians,  but  to  make  it  easy  to  our  pupil 
to  become  a  mathematician,  if  his  interest  or  his  am- 
bition, make  it  desirable ;  and,  above  all,  to  habituate 
him  to  clear  reasoning  and  close  attention.  And  we 
may  here  remark,  that  an  early  acquaintance  with  the 
accuracy  of  mathematical  demonstration,  does  not, 
within  our  experience,  contract  the  powers  of  the  im- 
agination. On  the  contrary,  we  think  that  a  young  lady 
of  twelve  years  old  who  is  npw  no  more,  and  who  had 
an  uncommon  propensity  to  mathematical  reasoning, 
had  an  imagination  remarkably  vivid  and  inventive.* 

We  have  accustomed  our  pupils  to  form  in  their  minds 
the  conception  of  figures  generated  from  points  and 
lines,  and  surfaces  supposed  to  move  in  different  direc- 
tions and  with  different  velocities.  It  may  be  thought, 
that  this  would  be  a  difficult  occupation  for  young 
minds  ;  but,  upon  trial,  it  will  be  found  not  only  easy  to 
them,  but  entertaining.  In  their  subsequent  studies,  it 
will  be  of  material  advantage;  it  will  facilitate  their 
orogress  not  only  in  pure  mathematics,  but  in  mechan- 
"cs  and  astronomy,  and  in  every  operation  of  the  mind 
which  requires  exact  reflection. 

To  demand  steady  thought  from  a  person  who  has  not 
been  trained  to  it,  is  one  of  the  most  unprofitable  and 
dangerous  requisitions  that  can  be  made  in  education. 

"  Full  in  the  midst  of  Euclid  dip  at  once, 
And  petrify  a  genius  to  a  dunce." 

In  the  usual  commencement  of  mathematical  studies, 
the  learner  is  required  to  admit  that  a  point,  of  which 
he  sees  the  prototype,  a  dot  before  him,  has  neither 
length,  breadth,  nor  thickness.  This,  surely,  is  a  de- 
gree of  faith  not  absolutely  necessary  for  the  neophyte 
in  science.  It  is  an  absurdity  which  has,  with  much 
success,  been  attacked  in  "  Observations  on  the  Nature 
of  Demonstrative  Evidence,"  by  Doctor  Beddoes. 

We  agree  with  the  doctor  as  to  the  impropriety  of 
calling  a  visible  dot  a  point  without  dimensions.  But, 
notwithstanding  the  high  respect  which  the  author  com- 
mands by  a  steady  pursuit  of  truth  on  all  subjects  of 

*  See  Rivuletta,  a  little  story  written  entirely  by  her  in  1786. 


OKOMRTRY.  331 

human  knowledge,  we  cannot  avoid  protesting  against 
part  of  the  doctrine  which  he  has  endeavoured  to  in- 
culcate. That  the  names,  point,  radius,  &c.,  are  derived 
from  sensible  objects,  need  not  be  disputed  ;  but  surely 
the  word  centre  can  be  understood  by  the  human 
mind  without  the  presence  of  any  visible  or  tangible 
substance. 

Where  two  lines  meet,  their  junction  cannot  have 
dimensions;  where  two  radii  of  a  circle  meet,  they  con- 
stitute the  centre;  and  the  name  centre  may  be  used 
for  ever  without  any  relation  to  a  tangible  or  visible 
point.  The  word  boundary,  in  like  manner,  means  the 
extreme  limit  we  call  a  line ;  but  to  assert  that  it  has 
thickness,  would,  from  the  very  terms  which  are  used  to 
describe  it,  be  a  direct  contradiction.  Bishop  Berkeley, 
Mr.  Walton,  Philathetes  Cantabrigiensis,  and  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin Robins,  published  several  pamphlets  upon  this 
-subject  about  half  a  century  ago.  No  man  had  a  more 
penetrating  mind  than  Berkeley  ;  but  we  apprehend  that 
Mr.  Robins  closed  the  dispute  against  him.  This  is  not 
meant  as  an  appeal  to  authority,  but  to  apprize  such  of 
our  readers  as  wish  to  consider  the  argument,  where 
they  may  meet  an  accurate  investigation  of  the  subject. 
It  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose,  to  warn  preceptors  not 
to  insist  upon  their  pupils'  acquiescence  in  the  dogma, 
that  a  point,  represented  by  a  dot,  is  without  dimen- 
sions ;  and  at  the  same  time  to  profess,  that  we  under- 
stand distinctly  what  is  meant  by  mathematicians  when 
they  speak  of  length  without  breadth,  and  of  a  super- 
ficies without  depth ;  expressions  which,  to  our  minds, 
convey  a  meaning  as  distinct  as  the  name  of  any  visible 
or  tangible  substance  in  nature,  whose  varieties  from 
shade,  distance,  colour,  smoothness,  heat,  &c.,  are  in- 
finite, and  not  to  be  comprehended  in  any  definition. 

In  fact,  this  is  a  dispute  merely  about  words ;  and  as 
the  extension  of  the  art  of  printing  puts  it  in  the  power 
of  every  man  to  propose  and  to  defend  his  opinions  at 
length  and  at  leisure,  the  best  friends  may  support  dif- 
ferent sides  of  a  question  with  mutual  regard,  and  the 
most  violent  enemies  with  civility  and  decorum.  Can 
we  believe  that  Tycho  Brahe  lost  half  his  nose  in  a 
dispute  with  a  Danish  nobleman  about  a  mathematical 
demonstration  * 


332  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ON    MECHANICS. 

PARENTS  are  anxious  that  children  should  be  con- 
versant with  Mechanics,  and  with  what  are  called  the 
Mechanic  Powers.  Certainly  no  species  of  knowledge 
is  better  suited  to  the  taste  and  capacity  of  youth,  and 
yet  it  seldom  forms  a  part  of  early  instruction.  Every- 
body talks  of  the  lever,  the  wedge,  and  the  pulley,  but 
most  people  perceive,  that  the  notions  which  they  have 
of  their  respective  uses  are  unsatisfactory  and  indis- 
tinct ;  and  many  endeavour,  at  a  late  period  of  life,  to 
acquire  a  scientific  and  exact  knowledge  of  the  effects 
that  are  produced  by  implements  which  are  in  every- 
body's hands,  or  that  are  absolutely  necessary  in  the 
daily  occupations  of  mankind. 

An  itinerant  lecturer  seldom  fails  of  having  a  numer- 
ous and  attentive  auditory  ;  and  if  he  does  not  commu- 
nicate much  of  that  knowledge  which  he  endeavours  to 
explain,  it  is  not  to  be  attributed  either  to  his  want  of 
skill,  or  to  the  insufficiency  of  his  apparatus,  but  to  the 
novelty  of  the  terms  which  he  is  obliged  to  use.  Igno- 
rance of  the  language  in  which  any  science  is  taught,  is 
an  insuperable  bar  to  its  being  suddenly  acquired ;  be- 
sides a  precise  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  terms,  we 
must  have  an  instantaneous  idea  excited  in  our  .minds 
whenever  they  are  repeated  ;  and,  as  this  can  be  ac- 
quired only  by  practice,  it  is  impossible  that  philosophi- 
cal lectures  can  be  of  much  service  to  those  who  are 
not  familiarly  acquainted  with  the  technical  language 
in  which  they  are  delivered  ;  and  yet  there  is  scarcely 
any  subject  of  human  inquiry  more  obvious  to  the  un- 
derstanding than  the  laws  of  mechanics.  Only  a  small 
portion  of  geometry  is  necessary  to  the  learner,  if  he 
even  wishes  to  become  master  of  the  more  difficult 
problems  which  are  usually  contained  in  a  course  of 
lectures  ;  and  most  of  what  is  practically  useful,  may  be 
acquired  by  any  person  who  is  expert  in  common 
arithmetic. 


MECHANICS.  333 

But  we  cannot  proceed  a  single  step  without  deviating 
from  common  language  ;  if  the  theory  of  the  balance 
or  the  lever  is  to  be  explained,  we  immediately  speak 
of  space  and  time.  To  persons  not  versed  in  literature, 
it  is  probable  that  these  terms  appear  more  simple  and 
intelligible  than  they  do  to  a  man  who  has  read  Locke, 
and  other  metaphysical  writers.  The  term  space,  to  the 
bulk  of  mankind,  conveys  the  idea  of  an  interval ;  they 
consider  the  word  time  as  representing  a  definite  num- 
ber of  years,  days,  or  minutes ;  but  the  metaphysician, 
when  he  hears  'the  words  space  and  time,  immediately 
takes  the  alarm,  and  recurs  to  the  abstract  notions 
which  are  associated  with  these  terms ;  he  perceives 
difficulties  unknown  to  the  unlearned,  and  feels  a  con- 
fusion of  ideas  which  distracts  his  attention.  The 
lecturer  proceeds  with  confidence,  never  supposing  that 
his  audience  can  be  puzzled  by  such  common  terms. 
He  means  by  space,  the  distance  from  the  place  whence 
a  body  begins  to  fall,  to  tjie  place  where  its  motion 
ceases  ;  and  by  time,  he  means  the  number  of  seconds, 
or  of  any  determinate  divisions  of  civil  time,  which 
elapse  from  the  commencement  of  any  motion  to  its 
end ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  duration  of  any  given  mo- 
tion. After  this  has  been  frequently  repeated,  any  in- 
telligent person  perceives  the  sense  in  which  they  are 
used  by  the  tenour  of  the  discourse ;  but  in  the  interim, 
the  greatest  part  of  what  he  has  heard  cannot  have  been 
understood,  and  the  premises  upon  which  every  subse- 
quent demonstration  is  founded,  are  unknown  to  him. 
If  this  be  true  when  it  is  affirmed  of  two  terms  only, 
what  must  be  the  situation  of  those  to  whom  eight  or 
ten  unknown  technical  terms  occur  at  the  commence- 
ment of  a  lecture  ?  A  complete  knowledge,  such  a 
knowledge  as  is  not  only  full,  but  familiar,  of  all  the 
common  terms  made  use  of  in  theoretic  and  practical 
mechanics,  is,  therefore,  absolutely  necessary,  before 
any  person  can  attend  public  lectures  in  natural  phi- 
losophy with  advantage. 

What  has  been  said  of  public  lectures,  may,  with 
equal  propriety,  be  applied  to  private  instruction ;  and 
it  is  probable,  that  inattention  to  this  circumstance  is 
the  reason  why  so  few  people  have  distinct  notions  of 
natural  philosophy.  Learning  by  rote,  or  even  reading 
repeatedly,  definitions  of  the  technical  terms  of  any 
science,  must  undoubtedly  facilitate  its  acquirement ; 


334  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

but  conversation,  with  the  habit  of  explaining  the  mean- 
ing of  words,  and  the  structure  of  common  domestic 
implements,  to  children,  is  the  sure  and  effectual 
method  of  preparing  the  mind  for  the  acquirement  of 
science. 

The  ancients,  in  learning  this  species  of  knowledge, 
had  an  advantage  of  which  we  are  deprived  :  many  of 
their  terms  of  science  were  the  common  names  of  fa- 
miliar objects.  How  few  do  we  meet  who  have  a  dis- 
tinct notion  of  the  words  radius,  angle,  or  valve.  A 
Roman  peasant  knew  what  a  radius  or  a  valve  meant, 
in  its  original  signification,  as  well  as  a  modern  profes- 
sor ;  he  knew  that  a  valve  was  a  door,  and  a  radius  a 
spoke  of  a  wheel ;  but  an  English  child  finds  it  as  diffi- 
cult to  remember  the  meaning  of  the  word  angle,  as  the 
word  parabola.  An  angle  is  usually  confounded,  by 
those  who  are  ignorant  of  geometry  and  mechanics, 
with  the  word  triangle  ;  and  the  long  reasoning  of  many 
a  laborious  instructer  has  been  confounded  by  this  popu- 
lar mistake.  When  a  glass  pump  is  shown  to  an  ad- 
miring spectator,  he  is- desired  to  watch  the  motion  of 
the  valves;  he  looks  "  above,  about,  and  underneath;" 
but,  ignorant  of  the  word  valve,  he  looks  in  vain.  Had 
he  been  desired  to  look  at  the  motion  of  the  little  doors 
that  opened  and  shut,  as  the  handle  of  the  pump  was 
moved  up  and  down,  he  would  have  followed  the  lec- 
turer with  ease,  and  would  have  understood  all  his  sub- 
sequent reasoning.  If  a  child  attempts  to  push  any 
thing  heavier  than  himself,  his  feet  slide  away  from  it, 
and  the  object  can  be  moved  only  at  intervals,  and  by 
sudden  starts ;  but  if  he  be  desired  to  prop  his  feet 
against  the  wall,  he  finds  it  easy  to  push  what  before 
eluded  his  little  strength.  Here  the  use  of  a  fulcrum, 
or  fixed  point,  by  means  of  which  bodies  maybe  moved, 
is  distinctly  understood.  If  two  boys  lay  a  board  across 
a  narrow  block  of  wood  or  stone,  and  balance  each 
other  at  the  opposite  ends  of  it,  they  acquire  anothei 
idea  of  a  centre  of  motion.  If  a  poker  is  rested  against 
a  bar  of  a  grate,  and  employed  to  lift  up  the  coals,  the 
same  notion  of  a  centre  is  recalled  to  their  minds.  If 
a  boy,  sitting  upon  a  plank,  a  sofa,  or  form,  be  lifted  up 
by  another  boy's  applying  his  strength  at  one  end  of  the 
seat,  while  the  other  rests  on  the  ground,  it  will  be 
readily  perceived  by  them,  that  the  point  of  rest,  07 
centre  of  motion,  or  fulcrum,  is  the  ground,  and  tha) 


MECHANICS.  335 

the  fulcjrum  is  not,  as  in  the  first  instance,  between  the 
force  that  lifts  and  the  thing  that  is  lifted  ;  the  fulcrum 
is  at  one  end,  the  force  which  is  exerted  acts  at  the 
other  end,  and  the  weight  is  in  the  middle.  In  trying 
these  simple  experiments,  the  terms  fulcrum,  centre  of 
motion,  <3fc.,  should  be  constantly  employed,  and  in  a 
very  short  time  they  would  be  as  familiar  to  a  boy  of 
eight  years  old  as  to  any  philosopher.  If  for  some 
years  the  same  words  frequently  recur  to  him  in  the 
same  sense,  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  a  lecture  upon  the 
balance  and  the  lever  would  be  as  unintelligible  to  him 
as  to  persons  of  good  abilities,  who  at  a  more  advanced 
age  hear  these  terms  from  the  mouth  of  a  lecturer  ?  A 
boy  in  such  circumstances  would  appear  as  if  he  had  a 
genius  for  mechanics,  when,  perhaps,  he  might  have 
less  taste  for  the  science,  and  less  capacity,  than  the 
generality  of  the  audience.  Trifling  as  it  may  at  first 
appear,  it  will  riot  be  found  a  trifling  advantage,  in  the 
progress  of  education,  to  attend  to  this  circumstance. 
A  distinct  knowledge  of  a  few  terms  assists  a  learner 
in  his  first  attempts  ;  finding  these  successful,  he  ad- 
vances with  confidence,  and  acquires  new  ideas  without 
difficulty  or  disgust.  Rousseau,  with  his  usual  eloquence, 
has  inculcated  the  necessity  of  annexing  ideas  to  words  ; 
he  declaims  against  the  splendid  ignorance  of  men  who 
speak  by  rote,  and  who  are  rich  in  words  amid  the 
most  deplorable  poverty  of  ideas.  To  store  the  memory 
of  his  pupil  with  images  of  things,  he  is  willing  to  neg- 
lect and  leave  to  hazard  his  acquirement  of  language. 
It  requires  no  elaborate  argument  to  prove  that  a  boy, 
whose  mind  was  stored  with  accurate  images  of  exter- 
nal objects  of  experimental  knowledge,  and  who  had 
acquired  habitual  dexterity,  but  who  was  unacquainted 
with  the  usual  signs  by  which  ideas  are  expressed, 
would  be  incapable  of  accurate  reasoning,  or  would,  at 
best,  reason  only  upon  particulars.  Without  general 
terms,  he  could  not  abstract ;  he  could  not,  until  his 
vocabulary  was  enlarged  and  familiar  to  him,  reason 
upon  general  topics,  or  draw  conclusions  from  general 
principles:  in  short,  he  would  be  in  the  situation  of 
those  who,  in  the  solution  of  difficult  and  complicated 
questions  relative  to  quantity,  are  obliged  to  employ  te- 
dious and  perplexed  calculations,  instead  of  the  clear 
and  comprehensive  methods  that  unfold  themselves  by 
the  use  of  signs  in  algebra. 


336  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

It  is  not  necessary,  in  teaching  children  the  technical 
language  of  any  art  or  science,  that  we  should  pursue 
the  same  order  that  is  requisite  in  teaching  the  science 
itself.  Order  is  required  in  reasoning,  because  all  rea- 
soning is  employed  in  deducing  propositions  from  one 
another  in  a  regular  series ;  but  where  terms  are  em- 
ployed merely  as  names,  this  order  may  be  dispensed 
with.  It  is,  however,  of  great  consequence  to  seize 
the  proper  time  for  introducing  a  new  term  ;  a  moment 
when  attention  is  awake,  and  when  accident  has  pro- 
duced some  particular  interest  in  the  object.  In  every 
family,  opportunities  of  this  sort  occur  without  any 
preparation ;  and  such  opportunities  are  far  preferable 
to  a  formal  lecture  and  a  splendid  apparatus,  for  the  first 
lessons  in  natural  philosophy  and  chymistry.  If  the 
pump  belonging  to  the  house  is  out  of  order,  and  the 
pump-maker  is  set  to  work,  an  excellent  opportunity 
presents  itself  for  variety  of  instruction.  The  centre 
pin  of  the  handle  is  taken  out,  and  a  long  rod  is  drawn 
up  by  degrees,  at  the  end  of  which  a  round  piece  of 
wood  is  seen,  partly  covered  with  leather.  Your  pupil 
immediately  asks  the  name  of  it,  and  the  pump-maker 
prevents  your  answer,  by  informing  little  master  that  it 
is  called  a  sucker.  You  show  it  to  the  child,  he  handles 
it,  feels  whether  the  leather  is  hard  or  soft,  and  at 
length  discovers  that  there  is  a  hole  through  it,  which 
is  covered  with  a  little  flap  or  door.  This,  he  learns 
from  the  workman,  is  called  a  clack.  The  child  should 
now  be  permitted  to  plunge  the  piston  (by  which  name  it 
should  now  be  called)  into  a  tub  of  water  ;  in  drawing  it 
backward  and  forward,  he  will  perceive  that  the  clack, 
which  should  now  be  called  the  valve,  opens  and  shuts 
as  the  piston  is  drawn  backward  and  forward.  It  will 
be  better  not  to  inform  the  child  how  this  mechanism  is 
employed  in  the  pump.  If  the  names  sucker  and  piston, 
clack  and  valve,  are  fixed  in  his  memory,  it  will  be  suffi- 
cient for  his  first  lesson.  At  another  opportunity,  he 
should  be  present  when  the  fixed  or  lower  valve  of  the 
pump  is  drawn  up ;  he  will  examine  it,  and  find  that  it  is 
similar  to  the  valve  of  the  piston  ;  if  he  sees  it  put 
down  into  the  pump,  and  sees  the  piston  put  into  its 
place,  and  set  to  work,  the  names  that  he  has.  learned 
will  be  fixed  more  deeply  in  his  mind,  and  he  will  have 
some  general  notion  of  the  whole  apparatus.  From  time 
to  time  these  names  should  be  recalled  to  his  memory 


MECHANICS.  337 

on  suitable  occasions,  but  he  should  not  be  asked  to  re- 
peat them  by  rote.  What  has  been  said  is  riot  intended 
as  a  lesson  for  a  child  in  mechanics,  but  as  a  sketch  of 
a  method  of  teaching  which  has  been  employed  with 
success. 

Whatever  repairs  are  carried  on  in  a  house,  children 
should  be  permitted  to  see:  while  everybody  about 
them  seems  interested,  they  become  attentive  from 
sympathy ;  and  whenever  action  accompanies  instruc- 
tion, it  is  sure  to  make  an  impression.  If  a  lock  is  out 
of  order,  when  it  is  taken  off,  show  it  to  your  pupil ; 
point  out  some  of  its  principal  parts,  and  name  them ; 
then  put  it  into  the  hands  of  a  child,  and  let  him  manage 
it  as  he  pleases.  Locks  are  full  of  oil,  and  black  with 
dust  and  iron ;  but  if  children  have  been  taught  habits 
of  neatness,  they  may  be  clockmakers  and  whitesmiths 
without  spoiling  their  clothes  or  the  furniture  of  a 
house.  Upon  every  occasion  of  this  sort,  technical 
terms  should  be  made  familiar ;  they  are  of  great  use 
in  the  everyday  business  of  life,  and  are  peculiarly  serr 
viceable  in  giving  orders  to  workmen,  who,  when  they 
are  spoken  to  in  a  language  that  they  are  used  to,  com- 
prehend what  is  said  to  them,  and  work  with  alacrity. 

An  early  use  of  a  rule  and  pencil,  and  easy  access  to 
prints  of  machines,  of  architecture,  and  of  the  imple- 
ments of  trades,  are  of  obvious  use  in  this  part  of  edu- 
cation. The  machines  published  by  the  Society  of  Arts 
in  London ;  the  prints  in  Desaguliers,  Emerson,  Le  Spec- 
tacle de  la  Nature,  Machines  approuvees  par  1' Academic, 
Chambers's  Dictionary,  Berthoud  sur  1'Horlogerie,  Dic- 
tionnaire  des  Arts  et  des  Metiers,  may,  in  succession, 
be  put  into  the  hands  of  children.  The  most  simple 
should  be  first  selected,  and  the  pupils  should  be  accus- 
tomed to  attend  minutely  to  one  print  before  another 
is  given  to  them.  A  proper  person  should  carefully 
point  out  and  explain  to  them  the  first  prints  that  they 
examine  ;  they  may  afterward  be  left  to  themselves. 

To  understand  prints  of  machines,  a  previous  knowl- 
edge of  what  is  meant  by  an  elevation,  a  profile,  a  sec- 
tion, a  perspective  view,  and  a  (vue  d'oiseau)  bird's-eye 
view,  is  necessary.  To  obtain  distinct  ideas  of  sections, 
a  few  models  of  common  furniture,  as  chests  of  drawers, 
bellows,  grates,  &c.,  may  be  provided,  and  may  be  cut 
asunder  in  different  directions.  Children  easily  com- 
prehend this  part  of  drawing  and  its  uses,  which  may 
29 


338  PRACTICAL     KDUCATIO*. 

be  pointed  out  in  books  of  architecture  ;  its  application 
to  the  common  business  of  life  is  so  various  and  imme- 
diate, as  to  fix  it  for  ever  in  the  memory  ;  besides,  the 
habit  of  abstraction,  which  is  acquired  by  drawing  the 
sections  of  complicated  architecture  or  machinery,  is 
highly  advantageous  to  the  mind.  The  parts  which  we 
wish  to  express  are  concealed,  and  are  suggested  partly 
by  the  elevation  or  profile  of  the  figure,  and  partly  by 
the  connexion  between  the  end  proposed  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  building,  machine,  &c.,  and  the  means 
which  are  adopted  to  effect  it. 

A  knowledge  of  perspective  is  to  be  acquired  by  an 
operation  of  the  mind  directly  opposite  to  what  is  ne- 
cessary in  delineating  the  sections  of  bodies ;  the  mind 
must  here  be  intent  only  upon  the  objects  that  are  de- 
lineated upon  the  retina,  exactly  what  we  see  ;  it  must 
forget  or  suspend  the  .knowledge  which  it  has  acquired 
from  experience,  and  must  see  with  the  eye  of  child- 
hood, no  farther  than  the  surface.  Every  person  who 
is  accustomed  to  drawing  in  perspective,  sees  external 
nature,  when  he  pleases,  merely  as  a  picture  :  this  habit 
contributes  much  to  form  a  taste  for  the  fine  arts ;  it 
may,  however,  be  carried  to  excess.  There  are  im- 
provers who  prefer  the  most  dreary  ruin  to  an  elegant 
and  convenient  mansion,  and  who  prefer  a  blasted  stump 
to  the  glorious  foliage  of  the  oak. 

Perspective  is  not,  however,  recommended  merely  as 
a  means  of  improving  the  taste,  but  as  it  is  useful  in  fa- 
cilitating the  knowledge  of  mechanics.  When  once 
children  are  familiarly  acquainted  with  perspective,  and 
with  the  representations  of  machines  by  elevations,  sec- 
tions, &c.,  prints  will  supply  them  with  an  extensive 
variety  of  information ;  and  when  they  see  real  ma- 
chines, their  structure  and  uses  will  be  easily  compre- 
hended. The  noise,  the  seeming  confusion,  and  the 
size  of  several  machines,  make  it  difficult  to  compre- 
hend and  combine  their  various  parts,  without  much 
time  and  repeated  examination ;  the  reduced  size  of 
prints  lays  the  whole  at  once  before  the  eye,  and  tends 
to  facilitate  not  only  comprehension,  but  contrivance. 
Whoever  can  delineate  progressively  as  he  invents, 
saves  much  labour,  much  time,  and  the  hazard  of  con- 
fusion. Various  contrivances  have  been  employed  to 
facilitate  drawing  in  perspective,  as  may  be  seen  in 
"  Cabinet  de  Servier,  Memoires  of  the  French  Acadwny, 


MECHANICS.  339 

Philosophical  Transactions,  and  lately  in  the  Repertory 
of  Arts."     The  following  is  simple,  cheap,  and  portable. 

PLATE   1.    FIG.   1. 

ABC,  three  mahogany  boards,  two,  four,  and  six 
inches  long,  and  of  the  same  breadth  respectively,  so 
as  to  double  in  the  manner  represented. 

PLATE  1.    FIG.  2. 

The  part  A  is  screwed  or  damped  to  a  table  of  a  con- 
venient height,  and  a  sheet  of  paper,  one  edge  of  which 
is  put  under  the  piece  A,  will  be  held  fast  to  the  table, 

The  index  P  is  to  be  set  (at  pleasure)  with  its  shin? 
point  to  any  part  of  an  object  which  the  eye  sees  through 
E,  the  eye-piece. 

The  machine  is  now  to  be  doubled  as  in  Fig.  2.  taking: 
care  that  the  index  be  not  disturbed;  the  poiat,  which 
was  before  perpendicular,  will  then  approach  the  paper 
horizontally,  and  the  place  to  which  it  points  on  the 
paper  must  be  marked  with  a  pencil.  The  machine 
must  be  again  unfolded,  and  another  point  of  the  object 
is  to  be  ascertained  in  the  same  manner  as  before  ;  the 
space  between  these  points  may  be  then  connected  with 
a  line  ;  fresh  points  should  then  be  taken,  marked  '.vith 
a  pencil  and  connected  with  a  line  ;  and  so  on  succes- 
sively, until  the  whole  object  is  delineated. 

Besides  the  common  terms  of  art,  the  technical  terns 
of  science  should,  by  degrees,  be  rendered  familiar  10 
our  pupils.  Among  these  the  words  Space  and  Time- 
occur,  as  we  have  observed,  the  soonest,  and  are  of  the 
greatest  importance.  Without  exact  definitions,  or  ab- 
stract reasonings,  a  general  notion  of  the  use  of  tiu'se 
terms  may  be  inculcated  by  employing  them  frequency 
in  conversation,  and  by  applying  them  to  things  and  <  ir 
cumstances  which  occur  without  preparation,  and  about 
which  children  are  interested  or  occupied.  "  There  is 
a  great  space  left  between  the  words  in  that  printing." 
The  child  understands,  that  space  in  this  sentence  means 
white  paper  between  black  letters.  "  You  should  leave 
a  greater  space  between  the  flowers  which  you  are 
planting"— -he  knows  that  you  mean  more  grovni. 
"  There  is  a  great  space  between  that  boat  and  the  ship'' 
— space  of  water.  *'  I  hope  the  hawk  will  not  be  able 
to  catch  that  pigeon,  there  is  a  great  space  between 
them" — space  of  air.  "  The  men  who  are  pulling  that 
P2 


340  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

sack  of  corn  into  the  granary,  have  raised  it  through 
half  the  space  between  the  door  and  the  ground."  A 
child  cannot  be  at  any  loss  for  the  meaning  of  the  word 
space  in  these  or  any  other  practical  examples  which 
may  occur ;  but  he  should  also  be  used  to  the  word 
space  as  a  technical  expression,  and  then  he  will  not  be 
confused  or  stopped  by  a  new  term  when  employed  in 
mechanics. 

The  word  time  may  be  used  in  the  same  manner  upon 
numberless  occasions,  to  express  the  duration  of  any 
movement  which  is  performed  by  the  force  of  men,  or 
horses,  wind,  water,  or  any  mechanical  power. 

"  Did  the  horses  in  the  mill  we  saw  yesterday,  go  as 
fast  as  the  horses  which  are  drawing  the  chaise  1" — "  No, 
not  as  fast  as  the  horses  go  at  present  on  level  ground ; 
but  they  went  as  fast  as  the  chaise-horses  do  when  they 
go  up  hill,  or  as  fast  as  horses  draw  a  wagon." 

"  How  many  times  do  the  sails  of  that  windmill  go 
round  in  a  minute  ?  Let  us  count ;  I  will  look  at  my 
watch  ;  do  you  count  how  often  the  sails  go  round ;  wait 
until  that  broken  arm  is  uppermost,  and  when  you  say 
now,  I  will  begin  to  count  the  time ;  when  a  minute  has 
passed,  I  will  tell  you." 

After  a  few  trials,  this  experiment  will  become  easy 
to  a  child  of  eight  or  nine  years  old  ;  he  may  sometimes 
attend  to  the  watch,  and  at  other  times  count  the  turns 
of  the  sails ;  he  may  easily  be  made  to  apply  this  to  a 
horsemill,  or  to  a  watermill,  a  corn-fan,  or  any  machine 
that  has  a  rotary  motion ;  he  will  be  entertained  with 
his  new  employment ;  he  will  compare  the  velocities  of 
different  machines ;  the  meaning  of  this  word  will  be 
easily  added  to  his  vocabulary. 

"  Does  that  part  of  the  arms  of  the  windmill  which  is 
near  the  axletree,  or  centre,  I  mean  that  part  which  has 
no  cloth  or  sail  upon  it,  go  as  fast  as  the  ends  of  the 
arms  that  are  the  farthest  from  the  centre  1" 

*  No,  not  near  so  fast." 

4  But  that  part  goes  as  often  round  in  a  minute  as  the 
rest  of  the  sail." 

'  Yes,  but  it  does  not  go  as  fast." 

*  How  sol" 

'It  does  not  go  so  far  round." 

1  No,  it  does  not.  The  extremities  of  the  sails  go 
through  more  space  in  the  same  time  than  the  part  near 
the  centre." 


MECHANICS.  34  J 

By  conversations  like  these,  the  technical  meaning  of 
the  word  velocity  may  be  made  quite  familiar  to  a  child 
mu-jh  younger  than  what  has  been  mentioned  ;  he  may 
no;  only  comprehend  that  velocity  means  time  and 
space  Considered  together,  but  if  he  is  sufficiently  ad- 
vanced in  arithmetic,  he  may  be  readily  taught  how  to 
exprecd  knd  coopare  in  numbers  velocities  composed  of 
ce:tain  portions  of  time  and  space.  He  will  not  inquire 
about  the  abstract  meaning  of  the  word  space  ;  he  has 
seen  space  measured  on  paper,  on  timber,  on  the  water, 
in  the  air,  and  he  perceives  distinctly  that  it  is  a  term 
equally  applicable  to  all  distances  that  can  exist  between 
objects  of  any  sort,  or  that  he  can  see,  feel,  or  imagine. 

Momentum,  a  less  common  word,  the  meaning  of 
wfiicn  is  not  quite  so  easy  to  convey  to  a  child,  may, 
by  degrees,  be  explained  to  him  :  at  every  instant  he 
feds  the  etfect  of  momentum  in  his  own  motions,  and 
in  the  motions  of  every  thing  that  strikes  against  him  ; 
hiG  keelmgd  and  experience  require  only  proper  terms 
to  become  the  subject  of  his  conversation.  When  he 
begins  to  inquire,  it  is  the  proper  time  to  instruct  him. 
For  instance,  a  boy  of  ten  years  old,  who  had  acquired 
the  meaning  of  some  other  terms  in  science,  this  morn- 
ing asked  the  meaning  of  the  word  momentum  ;  he  was 
desired  to  explain  what  he  thought  it  meant. 

He  answered,  "  Force." 

*'  Wnac  do  yoa  mean  by  force  ?" 

"Eriort." 

*'  Oi  waai  ?' 


"  .Go  you  r/»ean  that  force  by  which  a  body  is  drawn 
down  to  rile  earth  ?'•' 

"  No.-' 

"  Would  a  feather,  if  it  were  moving  with  the 
greatest  conceivable  swiftness  or  velocity,  throw  down 
a  castle  ?" 

«  No."* 

**  Would  a  mountain  torn  up  by  the  roots,  as  fabled  in 
Milton,  if  it  moved  with  the  least  conceivable  velocity, 
throw  down  a  castle  ?" 

"Yes,  I  think  it  would." 

The  difference  between  a  uniform  and  a  uniformly 

*  When  this  question  was  some  time  afterward  repeated  to  S  - 
he  observed,  that  the  feather  would  throw  down  the  castle,  if  it* 
•wiftness  were  so  great  as  to  make  up  for  its  want  of  weight. 


342  PRACTICAL  F.DUCATION. 

accelerated  motion,  the  measure  of  the  velocity  of  fall- 
ing bodies,  the  composition  of  motions  communicated 
to  the  same  body  in  different  directions  at  the  same 
time,  and  the  cause  of  the  curvilineal  track  of  projectiles, 
seem,  at  first,  intricate  subjects,  and  above  the  capacity 
of  boys  of  ten  or  twelve  years  old ;  but  by  short  and 
well-timed  lessons,  they  may  be  explained  without  con- 
founding or  fatiguing  their  attention.  We  tried  another 
experiment  while  this  chapter  was  writing,  to  determine 
whether  we  had  asserted  too  much  upon  this  subject. 
After  a  conversation  between  two  boys  upon  the  descent 
of  bodies  towards  the  earth,  and  upon  the  measure  of  the 
increasing  velocity  with  which  they  fall,  they  were 
desired,  with  a  view  to  ascertain  whether  they  under- 
stood what  was  said,  to  invent  a  machine  which  would 
show  the  difference  between  a  uniform  and  an  accel- 
erated velocity,  and  in  particular  to  show,  by  ocular 
demonstration,  "  that  if  one  body  moves  in  a  given 
time  through  a  given  space,  with  a  uniform  motion, 
and  if  another  body  moves  through  the  same  space  in 
the  same  time  with  a  uniformly  accelerated  motion, 
the  uniform  motion  of  the  one  will  be  equal  to  half  the 
accelerated  motion  of  the  other."  The  eldest  boy, 

H ,  thirteen  years  old,  invented  and  executed  the 

following  machine  for  this  purpose  : 

Plate  1.  Fig.  3.  b  is  a  bracket  9  inches  by  5,  consist- 
ing of  a  back  and  two  sides  of  hard  wood  :  two  inches 
from  the  back  two  slits  are  made  in  the  sides  of  the 
bracket,  half  an  inch  deep  and  an  eighth  of  an  inch 
wide,  to  receive  the  two  wire  pivots  of  a  roller ;  which 
roller  is  composed  of  a  cylinder,  three  inches  long  and 
half  an  inch  diameter;  and  a  cone,  three  inches  long 
and  one  inch  diameter  in  its  largest  part  or  base.  The 
cylinder  and  cone  are  not  separate,  but  are  turned  out 
of  one  piece  ;  a  string  is  fastened  to  the  cone  at  its  base 
a,  with  a  bullet  or  any  other  small  weight  at  the  other 
end  of  it ;  and  another  string  and  weight  are  fastened 
to  the  cylinder  at  c ;  the  pivot  p  of  wire  is  bent  into  the 
form  of  a  handle  ;  if  the  handle  is  turned  either  way, 
the  strings  will  be  respectively  wound  up  upon  the  cone 
and  cylinder  ;  their  lengths  should  now  be  adjusted,  so 
that  when  the  string  on  the  cone  is  wound  up  as  far  as 
the  eone  will  permit,  the  two  weights  may  be  at  an 
equal  distance  from  the  bottom  of  the  bracket,  which 
bottom  we  suppose  to  be  parallel  with  the  pivots ;  the 


MECHANICS-  343 

bracket  should  now  be  fastened  against  a  wall,  at  such 
a  height  as  to  let  the  weights  lightly  touch  the  floor 
when  the  strings  are  unwound  :  silk  or  bobbin  is  a 
proper  kind  of  string  for  this  purpose,  as  it  is  woven  or 
plaited,  and  therefore  is  not  liable  to  twist.  When  the 
strings  are  wound  up  to  their  greatest  heights,  if  the 
handle  be  suddenly  let  go,  both  the  weights  will  begin 
to  fall  at  the  same  moment ;  but  the  weight  1  will  de- 
scend at  first  but  slowly,  and  will  pass  through  but  small 
space  compared  with  the  weight  2.  As  they  descend 
farther,  No.  2  still  continues  to  get  before  No.  1 ;  but 
after  some  time,  No.  1  begins  to  overtake  No.  2,  and  at 
last  they  come  to  the  ground  together.  If  this  machine 
is  required  to  show  exactly  the  space  that  a  falling  body 
would  describe  in  given  times,  the  cone  and  cylinder 
must  have  grooves  cut  spirally  upon  their  circumference, 
to  direct  the  string  with  precision.  To  describe  these 
spiral  lines,  became  a  new  subject  of  inquiry.  The 
young  mechanics  were  again  eager  to  exert  their 
powers  of  invention ;  the  eldest  invented  a  machine 
upon  the  same  principle  as  that  which  is  used  by  the 
best  workmen  for  cutting  clock  fusees  ;  and  it  is  de- 
scribed in  Berthoud.  The  youngest  invented  the  engine 
delineated,  Plate  1.  Fig.  4. 

The  roller  or  cone  (or  both  together)  which  it  is  re- 
quired to  cut  spirally,  must  be  furnished  with  a  handle, 
and  a  toothed  wheel  w,  which  turns  a  smaller  wheel  or 
pinion  w.  This  pinion  carries  with  it  a  screw  s,  which 
draws  forward  the  puppet  p,  in  which  the  graver  or 
chisel  g  slides  without  shake.  This  graver  has  a  point 
or  edge  shaped  properly  to  form  the  spiral  groove,  with 
a  shoulder  to  regulate  the  depth  of  the  groove.  The 
iron  rod  r,  which  is  firmly  fastened  in  the  puppet,  slides 
through  mortises  at  mm,  and  guides  the  puppet  in  a 
straight  line. 

The  rest  of  the  machine  is  intelligible  from  the 
drawing. 

A  simple  method  of  showing  the  nature  of  compound 
forces  was  thought  of  at  the  same  time.  An  ivory  ball 
was  placed  at  the  corner  of  a  board  sixteen  inches 
broad  and  two  feet  long ;  two  other  similar  balls  were 
let  fall  down  inclined  troughs  against  the  first  ball  in 
different  directions,  but  at  the  same  time.  One  fell  in 
a  direction  parallel  to  the  length  of  the  board ;  the  other 
ball  fell  back  in  a  direction  parallel  to  its  breadth.  By 


344  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

raising  the  troughs,  such  a  force  was  communicated 
to  each  of  the  falling  balls,  as  was  sufficient  to  drive 
the  ball  that  was  at  rest  to  that  side  or  end  of  the  board 
which  was  opposite,  or  at  right  angles,  to  the  line  of  its 
motion. 

When  both  balls  were  let  fall  together,  they  drove 
the  ball  that  was  at  rest  diagonally,  so  as  to  reach  the 
opposite  corner.  If  the  same  board  were  placed  as  an 
inclined  plane,  at  an  angle  of  five  or  six  degrees,  a  ball 
placed  at  one  of  its  uppermost  corners  would  fall  with 
an  accelerated  motion  in  a  direct  line ;  but  if  another 
ball  were  made  (by  descending  through  an  inclined 
trough)  to  strike  the  first  ball  at  right  angles  to  the  line 
of  its  former  descent,  at  the  moment  when  it  began  to 
descend,  it  would  not,  as  in  the  former  experiment,  move 
diagonally,  but  would  describe  a  curve. 

The  reason  why  it  describes  a  curve,  and  why  that 
curve  is  not  circular,  was  easily  understood.  Children 
who  are  thus  induced  to  invent  machines  or  apparatus 
for  explaining  and  demonstrating  the  laws  of  mechanism, 
not  only  fix  indelibly  those  laws  in  their  own  minds, 
but  enlarge  their  powers  of  invention,  and  preserve  a 
certain  originality  of  thought,  which  leads  to  new  dis- 
coveries. 

We  therefore  strongly  recommend  it  to  teachers,  to 
use  as  few  precepts  as  possible  in  the  rudiments  of  sci- 
ence, and  to  encourage  their  pupils  to  use  their  own 
understandings  as  they  advance.  In  mechanism,  a 
general  view  of  the  powers  and  uses  of  engines  is  all 
that  need  be  taught;  where  more  is  necessary,  such  a 
foundation,  with  the  assistance  of  good  books  and  the 
examination  of  good  machinery,  will  perfect  the  knowl- 
edge of  theory  and  facilitate  practice, 

At  first  we  should  not  encumber  our  pupils  with  ac- 
curate demonstration.  The  application  of  mathematics 
to  mechanics  is  undoubtedly  of  the  highest  use,  and  has 
opened  a  source  of  ingenious  and  important  inquiry. 
Archimedes,  the  greatest  name  among  mechanic  phi- 
losophers, scorned  the  mere  practical  application  of  his 
sublime  discoveries  ;  and  at  the  moment  when  the  most 
stupendous  effects  were  producing  by  his  engines,  he 
was  so  deeply  absorbed  in  abstract  speculation  as  to  be 
insensible  to  the  fear  of  death.  We  do  not  mean,  there- 
fore, to  undervalue  either  the  application  of  strict  de- 
monstration to  problems  in  mechanics,  or  the  exhibition 


MECHANICS.  345 

of  the  most  accurate  machinery  in  philosophical  lec- 
tures ;  but  we  wish  to  point  out  a  method  of  giving-  a 
general  notion  of  the  mechanical  organs  to  our  pupils, 
\\hich  shall  be  immediately  obvious  to  their  compre- 
hension, and  which  may  serve  as  a  sure  foundation  for 
•iilure  improvement.  We  are  told  by  a  vulgar  proverb, 
that  though  we  believe  what  we  see,  we  have  yet  a 
hlgr.er  belief  in  what  \vefeel.  This  adage  is  particularly 
applicable  to  mechanics.  When  a  person  perceives 
the  effect  of  his  own  bodily  exertions  with  different 
engines,  and  v/n&n  he  can  compare  in  a  rough  manner 
tlxea  relative  advantages,  he  is  not  disposed  to  reject 
men  EsasiarA^ce  expect  more  than  is  reasonable  from 
then  aopii^aiion.  The  young  theorist  in  mechanics 
thm&s  ne  can  produce  a  perpetual  motion !  When  he 
has  been  accustomed  to  refer  to  the  plain  dictates  of 
common  sense  and  experience  on  this,  as  well  as  on 
e/ery  otr.er  suoject,  he  "will  not  easily  be  led  astray  by 
"visionary  thsonec, 

To  bring  the  sense  of  feeling  to  our  assistance  in 
i-eaching  the  uses  of  the  mechanic  powers,  the  following 
apparatus  was  constructed,  to  which  we  have  given  the 
name  Panorganon. 

It  is  composed  of  two  principal  parts;  a  frame  to 
contain  the  moving  machinery,  and  a  capstan  or  wind- 
»'ajj,  -which  is  erected  on  a  sill  or  plank,  that  is  sunk  a 
fe;v  inches  into  the  ground  :  the  frame  is,  by  this  means, 
and  by  six  braces  or  props,  rendered  steady.  The  cross 
.vail,  Oi'  transom^  is  strengthened  by  braces  and  a  king- 
pv)o£  to  make  it  lighter  and  cheaper.  The  capstan  con- 
•hsis  of  an  upright  shaft,  upon  which  are  fixed  two 
iru/.Mf,  about  which  a  rope  may  be  wound  up,  and  two 
ie/ers  or  arms,  by  which  it  may  be  turned  round. 
There  is  also  a  screw  of  iron  coiled  round  the  lower 
part  of  the  shaft,  to  show  the  properties  of  the  screw  as 
a  mechanic  power.  The  rope  which  goes  round  the 
',,:um  passes  over  one  of  the  pulleys  near  to  the  top  of 
the  frame,  and  under  another  pulley  near  the  bottom  of 
ine  name.  As  two  drums  of  different  sizes  are  em- 
ployed, it  is  necessary  to  have  an  upright  roller  to  con- 
duct the  rope  in  a  proper  direction  to  the  pulleys,  when 
cither  of  the  drums  is  used.  Near  the  frame,  and  in 
the  direction  in  which  the  rope  runs,  is  laid  a  plat- 
form or  road  of  deal  boards,  one  board  in  breadth,  and 
twenty  or  thirty  feet  long,  upon  which  a  small  sledge, 
P  3 


346  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

loaded  with  different  weights,  may  be  drawn.  Piate  2. 
Fig.  1. 

F  F.     The  frame. 

b  b.     Braces  to  keep  the  frame  steady. 

a  a  a.  Angular  braces  to  strengthen  the  transom  ; 
and  also  a  king-post. 

S.  A  round,  taper  shaft,  strengthened  above  and  be- 
low the  mortises  with  iron  hoops. 

L  L.  Two  arms,  or  levers,  by  which  the  shaft,  &c. 
are  to  be  moved  round. 

D  D.  The  drum,  which  has  two  rims  of  different  cir- 
cumferences. 

R.     The  roller  to  conduct  the  rope. 

P.  The  pulley,  round  which  the  rope  passes  to  the 
larger  drum. 

P  2.     Another  pulley,  to  answer  to  the  smaller  drum. 

P  3.  A  pulley  through  which  the  rope  passes  when 
experiments  are  tried  with  levers,  &c. 

P  4.  Another  pulley,  through  which  the  rope  passes 
when  the  sledge  is  used. 

Ro.  The  road  of  deal  boards  for  the  sledge  to  move 
on. 

SI.  The  sledge,  with  pieces  of  hard  wood  attached 
to  it,  to  guide  it  on  the  road. 

Uses  of  the  Panorganon. 

As  this  machine  is  to  be  moved  by  the  force  of  men 
or  children,  and  as  their  force  varies  not  only  with  the 
strength  and  weight  of  each  individual,  but  also  accord- 
ing to  the  different  manner  in  which  that  strength  or 
weight  is  applied ;  it  is,  in  the  first  place,  requisite  to 
establish  one  determinate  mode  of  applying  human  force 
to  the  machine  ;  and  also  a  method  of  determining  the 
relative  force  of  each  individual  whose  strength  is  ap- 
plied to  it. 

To  estimate  the  force  with  which  a  person  can  draw  horizon- 
tally by  a  rope  over  his  shoulder. 

EXPERIMENT  I. 

Hang  a  common  long  scale-beam  (without  scales  or 
chains)  from  the  top  or  transam  of  the  frame,  so  that  one 
end  of  it  may  come  within  an  inch  of  one  side  or  post 
of  the  machine.  Tie  a  rope  to  the  hook  of  the  scale- 
beam,  where  the  chains  of  the  scale  are  usually  hung, 
and  pass  it  through  the  pulley  P  3,  which  is  about  four 


MECHANICS.  £47 

feet  from  the  ground  ;  let  the  person  pull  this  rope  fronri 
1  towards  2,  turning  his  back  to  the  machine,  and  pulling 
the  rope  over  his  shoulder — PI.  2.  Fig.  6.  As  the  pulley 
may  be  either  too  high  or  too  low  to  permit  the  rope  to 
be  horizontal,  the  person  who  pulls  it  should  be  placed 
ten  or  fifteen  feet  from  the  machine,  which  will  lessen 
the  angular  direction  of  the  cord,  and-the  inaccuracy  ot 
the  experiment.  Hang  weights  to  the  other  end  of  the 
scale-beam,  until  the  person  who  pulls  can  but  just  walk 
forward,  pulling  fairly,  without  propping  his  feet  against 
any  thing.  This  weight  will  estimate  the  force  with 
which  he  can  draw  horizontally  by  a  rope  over  his  shoul- 
der.* Let  a  child  who  tries  this,  walk  on  the  board  with 
dry  shoes ;  let  him  afterward  chalk  his  shoes,  and  after- 
ward try  it  with  his  shoes  soaped  :  he  will  find  that  he 
can  pull  with  different  degrees  of  force  in  these  differ- 
ent circumstances  ;  but  when  he  tries  the  following  ex- 
periments, let  his  shoes  be  always  dry,  that  his  force 
may  be  always  the  same. 

To  show  the  power  of  the  three  different  sorts  of  levers. 

EXPERIMENT    II. 

Instead  of  putting  the  cord  that  comes  from  the  scale- 
beam,  as  in  the  last  experiment,  over  the  shoulder  of 
the  boy,  hook  it  to  the  end  1  of  the  lever  L,  Fig  2.  Plate 
2.  TJjis  lever  is  passed  through  a  socket — Plate  2.  Fig. 
3. — in  which  it  can  be  shifted  from  one  of  its  ends  to- 
wards the  other,  and  can  be  fastened  at  any  place  by  the 
screw  of  the  socket.  This  socket  has  two  gudgeons, 
upon  which  it,  and  the  lever  which  it  contains,  can  turn. 
This  socket  and  its  gudgeons  can  be  lifted  out  of  the 
holes  in  which  it  plays,  between  the  rail  R  R,  Plate  2. 
Fig.  2.  and  may  be  put  into  other  holes  at  R  R,  Fig.  5. 
Loop  another  rope  to  the  other  end  of  this  lever,  and  let 
the  boy  pull  as  before.  Perhaps  it  should  be  pointed 
out,  that  the  boy  must  walk  in  a  direction  contrary  to 
that  in  which  he  walked  before,  viz.,  from  1  towards  3. 
The  height  to  which  the  weight  ascends,  and  the  dis- 
tance to  which  the  boy  advances,  should  be  carefully 

*  Were  it  thought  necessary  to  make  these  experiments  perfectly 
accurate,  a  segment  of  a  pulley,  the  radius  of  which  is  half  the  length 
of  the  scale-beam,  should  be  attached  to  the  end  of  the  beam,  upon 
which  the  cord  may  apply  itself;  and  the  pulley  (P  3)  should  be 
raised  or  lowered,  to  bring  the  rope  horizontally  from  the  man's 
shoulder  when  in  the  attitude  of  drawing. 


PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

rr.ivked  and  measured ;  and  it  will  be  found  that  he  can 
raise  the  weight  to  the  same  height,  advancing  through 
the  same  space,  as  in  the  former  experiment.  In  this 
case,  as  both  ends  of  the  lever  moved  through  equal 
spaces,  the  lever  only  changed  the  direction  of  the  mo- 
tion, and  added  no  mechanical  power  to  the  direct 
strength  of  the  boy. 

EXPERIMENT    III. 

£hift  the  lever  to  its  extremity  in  the  socket;  the 
middle  of  the  lever  will  be  now  opposite  to  the  pulley, 
Pi.  2.  Fi£.  4. — hook  to  it  the  rope  that  goes  through  the 
p  .11  ••;>*  P  3,  and  fasten  to  the  other  end  of  the  lever  the 
rv.f  Ly  which  the  boy  is  to  pull.  This  will  be  a  lever 
of  the  second  kind,  as  it  is  called  in  books  of  mechanics  ; 
in  Liilig  which,  the  resistance  is  placed  between  the  centre  of 
run/fan  or  fulcrum,  and  the  moving  power.  He  will  now 
ralca  coitble  the  weight  that  he  did  in  Experiment  11,  and 
he  will  advance  through  double  the  space. 

EXPERIMENT    IV. 

Shift  the  lever,  and  the  socket  which  forms  the  axis 
(without  shifting  the  lever  from  the  place  in  which  it 
was  in  the  socket  in  the  last  experiment),  to  the  holes 
that  are  prepared  for  it  at  R  R,  Plate  2.  Fig.  5.  The 
free  end  of  the  lever  E  will  now  be  opposite  to  the  rope, 
aiid  to  the  pulley  (over  which  the  rope  comes  froTn  the 
scUe^beatn).  Hock  this  rope  to  it,  and  hook  the  rope 
by  v.-  zsich  the  boy  puils,  to  the  middle  of  the  lever.  The 
effect  will  now  be  different  from  what  it  was  in  the  two 
lait  experiments  ;  the  boy  will  advance  only  half  as  far, 
and  will  raise  only  half  as  much  weight  aa  before.  This 
is  Cilie<!  fc  lever  of  the  third  .sort.  The  first  and  second 
kiiido  of  levers  are  used  in  quarrying ;  and  the  opera- 
ticiis  of  many  tools  maybe  referred  to  them.  The  third 
kind  of  lever  is  employed  but  seldom,  but  its  properties 
may  be  observed  with  advantage  while  a  long  ladder  is 
raised,  as  the  man  who  raises  it  is  obliged  to  exert  an 
increasing  force  until  the  ladder  is  nearly  perpendicular. 
When  this  lever  is  used,  it  is  obvious,  from  what  has 
bee-  said,  that  the  power  must  always  pass  through  less 
sps.ce  than  the  thing  which  is  to  be  moved ;  it  can  never, 
ths.'eibre,  be  of  service  in  gaining  power.  But  the  ob- 
jest  of  some  machines  is  to  increase  velocity,  instead 
of  obtaining  power,  as  in  a  sledge-hammer  moved  by 


MECHANICS,  349 

n-.ill-work.  (See  the  plates  in  Emerson's  Mechanics, 
No.  236.) 

The  experiments  upon  levers  may  be  varied  at  pleas- 
ure, increasing  or  diminishing  the  mechanical  advantage, 
so  as  to  balance  the  power  and  the  resistance,  to  accus- 
tom the  learners  to  calculate  the  relation  between  the 
power  and  the  effect  in  different  circumstances ;  always 
pointing  out  that  whatever  excess  there  is  in  the  power* 
or  in  the  resistance,  is  always  compensated  by  the  differ- 
ence of  space  through  which  the  inferior  passes. 

The  experiments  which  we  have  mentioned  are  suffi- 
ciently satisfactory  to  a  pupil,  as  to  the  immediate  re- 
lation between  the  power  and  the  resistance ;  but  the 
different  spaces  through  which  the  power  and  the  resist- 
ance move  when  one  exceeds  the  other,  cannot  be  ob- 
vious, unless  they  pass  through  much  larger  spaces  than 
levers  will  permit. 

EXPERIMENT  V. 

Place  the  sledge  on  the  farthest  end  of  the  wooden 
road— Plate  2.  Fig.  1.— fasten  a  rope  to  the  sledge,  and 
conduct  it  through  the  lowest  pulley  P  4,  and  through 
tne  pulley  P  3,  so  that  the  boy  may  be  enabled  to  draw 
it  by  the"  rope  passed  over  his  shoulder.  The  sledge 
must  now  be  loaded,  until  the  boy  can  but  just  advance 
with  short  steps  steadily  upon  the  wooden  road  ;  this 
must  be  done  with  care,  as  there  will  be  but  just  room 
for  him  beside  the  rope.  He  will  meet  the  sledge  ex- 
actly on  the  middle  of  the  road,  from  which  he  must 
step  ar.-de  to  pass  the  sledge.  Let  the  time  of  this  ex- 
periment be  noted.  It  is  obvious  that  the  boy  and  the 
move  with  equal  velocity  ;  there  is,  therefore,  no 
l  advantage  obtained  by  the  pulleys.  The 
that  he  can  draw  will  be  about  half  a  hundred, 
if  he  weigh  about  nine  stone  ;  but  the  exact  force  with 
winch  the  boy  draws,  is  to  be  known  by  Experiment  i. 

The  wheel  and  axle. 

This  organ  is  usually  called  in  mechanics,  The  axis  in 
peritrochio.  A  hard  name,  which  might  well  be  spared, 
as  the  word  windlass  or  capstan  would  convey  a  more 
distinct  idea  to  our  pupils. 

*  The  word  power  is  here  used  in  a  popular  sense,  to  denote  the 
strength  or  efficacy  that  is  employed  to  produce  an  effect  by  means 
of  any  engine. 

30 


350  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

EXPERIMENT  VI. 

To  the  largest  drum,  Plate  2.  Fig.  1.  fasten  a  cord,  and 
pass  it  through  the  pulley  P  downward,  and  through  the 
pulley  P  4  to  the  sledge  placed  at  the  end  of  the  wooden 
road,  which  is  farthest  from  the  machine.  Let  the  boy, 
by  a  rope  fastened  to  the  extremity  of  one  of  the  arms 
of  the  capstan,  and  passed  over  his  shoulder,  draw  the 
capstan  round  ;  he  will  wind  the  rope  round  the  drum, 
and  draw  the  sledge  upon  its  road.  To  make  the  sledge 
advance  twenty-four  feet  upon  its  road,  the  boy  must 
have  walked  circularly  144  feet,  which  is  six  times  as 
far,  and  he  will  be  able  to  draw  about  three  hundred 
weight,  which  is  six  times  as  much  as  in  the  last  experi- 
ment. 

It  may  now  be  pointed  out,  that  the  difference  of 
space  passed  through  by  the  power  in  this  experiment, 
is  exactly  equal  to  the  difference  of  weight  which  the 
boy  could  draw  without  the  capstan. 

EXPERIMENT  VII. 

Let  the  rope  be  now  attached  to  the  smaller  drum ; 
the  boy  will  draw  nearly  twice  as  much  weight  upon 
the  sledge  as  before,  and  will  go  through  double  the 
space. 

EXPERIMENT  VIII. 

Where  there  are  a  number  of  boys,  let  five  or  six  of 
them,  whose  power  of  drawing  (estimated  as  in  Experi- 
ment i)  amounts  to  six  times  as  much  as  the  force  of  fhe 
boy  at  the  capstan,  pull  at  the  end  of  the  rope  which 
was  fastened  to  the  sledge  ;  they  will  balance  the  force 
of  the  boy  at  the  capstan :  either  they  or  he,  by  a  sud- 
den pull,  may  advance, — but  if  they  pull  fairly,  there 
will  be  no  advantage  on  either  part.  Jn  this  experiment 
the  rope  should  pass  through  the  pulley  P  3,  and  should 
be  coiled  around  the  larger  drum.  And  it  must  be  also 
observed,  that  in  all  experiments  upon  the  motion  of 
bodies  in  which  there  is  much  friction,  as  where  a 
sledge  is  employed,  the  results  are  never  so  uniform  KS 
in  other  circumstances. 

The  Pulley. 

Upon  the  pulley  we  shall  say  little,  as  it  is  in  ercry- 
body's  hands,  and  experiments  may  be  tried  upor  '.t 
without  any  particular  apparatus.  It  should,  however, 


MECHANICS.  351 

be  distinctly  inculcated,  that  the  power  is.  not  increased 
by  a  fixed  pulley.  For  this  purpose,  a  wheel  without  a 
rim,  or,  to  speak  with  more  propriety,  a  number  of 
spokes  fixed  in  a  nave,  should  be  employed.  (Plate  2. 
Fig.  9.)  Pieces  like  the  heads  of  crutches  should  be 
fixed  at  the  ends  of  these  spokes,  to  receive  a  piece  of 
girth- web,  which  is  used  instead  of  a  cord,  because  a 
cord  would  be  unsteady ;  and  a  strap  of  iron  with  a  hook 
to  it  should  play  upon  the  centre,  by  which  it  may  at 
times  be  suspended,  and  from  which  at  other  times  a 
weight  may  be  hung. 

EXPERIMENT    IX. 

Let  the  skeleton  of  a  pulley  be  hung  by  the  iron  strap 
from  the  transom  of  the  frame ;  fasten  a  piece  of  web 
to  one  of  the  radii,  and  another  to  the  end  of  the  opposite 
radius.  If  two  boys  of  equal  weight  pull  these  pieces 
of  girth- web,  they  will  balance  each  other ;  or  two  equal 
weights  hung  to  these  webs  will  be  in  equilibrio.  If  a 
piece  of  girth-web  be  put  round  the  uppermost  radius, 
two  equal  weights  hung  at  the  ends  of  it  will  remain 
immoveable ;  but  if  either  of  them  be  pulled,  or  if  a 
small  additional  weight  be  added  to  either  of  them,  it 
will  descend,  and  the  web  will  apply  itself  successively 
to  the  ascending  radii,  and  will  detach  itself  from  those 
that  are  descending.  If  this  movement  be  carefully 
considered,  it  will  be  perceived  that  the  web,  in  unfold- 
ing itself,  acts  in  the  same  manner  upon  the  radii  as 
two  ropes  would,  if  they  were  hung  to  the  extremities 
of  the  opposite  radii  in  succession.  The  two  radii 
which  are  opposite  may  be  considered  as  a  lever  of  the 
first  sort,  where  the  centre  is  in  the  middle  of  the  lever ; 
as  each  end  moves  through  an  equal  space,  there  is  no 
mechanical  advantage.  But  if  this  skeleton-pulley  be 
employed  as  a  common  block  or  tackle  its  motions  and 
properties  will  be  entirely  different.  - 

EXPERIMENT    X.    PLATE    2.    FIG.    9. 

Nail  a  piece  of  girth-web  to  a  post,  at  the  distance  of 
three  or  four  feet  from  the  ground  ;  fasten  the  other  end 
of  it  to  one  of  the  radii.  Fasten  another  piece  of  web 
to  the  opposite  radius,  and  let  a  boy  hold  the  skeleton- 
pulley  suspended  by  the  web ;  hook  weights  to  the  strap 
that  hangs  from  the  centre.  The  end  of  the  radius  to 
which  the  fixed  girth-web  is  fastened  will  remain  im- 


352  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

noveable ;  but,  if  the  boy  pulls  the  web  which  he  holds 
in  his  hand  upward,  he  will  be  able  to  lift  nearly  double 
the  weight  which  he  can  raise  from  the  ground  by  a 
simple  rope,  without  the  machine,  and  he  will  perceive 
that  his  hand  moves  through  twice  as  great  a  space  as 
the  weight  ascends :  he  has,  therefore,  the  mechanical 
advantage  which  he  would  have  by  a  lever  of  the  second 
sort,  as  in  Experiment  in.  Let  a  piece  of  web  be  put 
Tcoud  the  under  radii ;  let  one  end  of  it  be  nailed  to  the 
post,  arid  the  other  be  held  by  the  boy,  and  it  will  repre- 
s*at  tfcw  application  of  a  rope  to  a  moveable  pulley  ;  if 
its  roo~-.ion  be  carefully  considered,  it  will  appear  that 
she  rarii,  as  they  successively  apply  themselves  to  the 
wsb,  represent  a  series  of  levers  of  the  second  kind. 
A  pulley  is  nothing  more  than  an  infinite  number  of 
3uc&  levers ;  the  cord  at  one  end  of  the  diameter  serving 
as  a,  ialcrum  for  the  organ  during  its  progress.  If  this 
sk<!ie*on-puttey  be  used  horizontally  instead  of  perpen- 
dicularly, the  circumstances  which  have  been  mentioned 
will  appear  more  obvious. 

Upon  the  wooden  road  lay  down  a  piece  of  girth- web ; 
nai'i  Oiie  end  of  it  to  the  road  ;  place  the  pulley  upon  the 
v*veb  at  the  other  end  of  the  board,  and,  bringing  the  web 
over  the  radii,  let  the  boy,  taking  hold  of  it,  draw  the 
loaded  sledge  fastened  to  the  hook  at  the  centre  of  the 
pulley :  he  will  draw  nearly  twice  as  much  in  this  man- 
ner as  he  could  without  the  pulley.* 

Here  the  web,  lying  on  the  road,  shows  more  distinctly 
that  it  is  quiescent  where  the  lowest  radius  touches  it  ; 
and  if  the  radii,  as  they  tread  upon  it,  are  observed,  their 
f  Gluts  will  appear  at  rest,  while  the  centre  of  the  pulley 
Will  jpfo  as  fast  as  the  sledge,  and  the  top  of  each  radius 
successively  (and  the  boy's  hand  which  unfolds  the  web) 
will  move  twice  as  fast  as  the  centre  of  the  pulley  and 
the  sledge. 

If  &  person  holding  a  stick  in  his  hand  observes  the 
relative  motions  of  the  top,  and  the  middle,  and  the  bot- 
tom of  the  stick,  while  he  inclines  it,  he  will  see  that  the 
bottom  of  the  stick  has  no  motion  on  the  ground,  and 
that  the  middle  has  only  half  the  motion  of  the  top. 
This  property  of  the  pulley  has  been  dwelt  upon,  because 

*  In  all  these  experiments  with  the  skeleton-pulley,  somebody 
r*?ust  keep  it  in  its  proper  direction ;  as  from  its  structure,  which  is 
contrived  for  illustration,  not  for  practical  use,  it  cannot  retain  ita 
proper  situation  without  assistance. 


MECHANICS.  353 

it  elucidates  the  motion  of  a  wheel  rolling  upon  the 
ground;  and  it  explains  a  common  paradox,  which 
appears  at  first  inexplicable.  "  The  bottom  of  a  rolling 
wheel  never  moves  upon  the  road."  This  is  asserted 
only  of  a  wheel  moving  over  hard  ground,  which,  in  fact, 
may  be  considered  rather  as  laying  down  its  circum- 
ference upon  the  road,  than  as  moving  upon  it. 

The  inclined  Plane  and  the  Wedge. 

The  inclined  plane  is  to  be  next  considered.  When  a 
heavy  body  is  to  be  raised,  it  is  often  convenient  to  lay 
a  sloping,  artificial  road  of  planks,  up  which  it  may  be 
pushed  or  drawn.  This  mechanical  power,  however,  is 
but  of  little- service  without  the  assistance  of  wheels  or 
rollers ;  we  shall,  therefore,  speak  of  it  as  it  is  applied 
in  another  manner,  under  the  name  of  the  wedge,  which 
is,  in  fact,  a  moving  inclined  plane ;  but  if  it  is  required  to 
explain  the  properties  of  the  inclined  plane  by  the  Panor- 
ganon,  the  wooden  road  may  be  raised  and  set  to  any 
inclination  that  is  required,  and  the  sledge  may  be  drawn 
upon  it  as  in  the  former  experiments. 

Let  one  end  of  a  lever,  N,  Plate  2.  Fig.  7.,  with  a  wheel 
at  one  end  of  it,  be  hinged  to  the  post  of  the  frame,  by 
means  of  a  gudgeon  driven  or  screwed  into  the  post. 
To  prevent  this  lever  from  deviating  sideways,  let  a  slip 
of  wood  be  connected  with  it  by  a  nail,  which  shall  be 
fast  in  the  lever,  but  which  moves  freely  in  a  hole  in  the 
rail.  The  other  end  of  this  slip  must  be  fastened  to  a 
stake  driven  into  the  ground  at  three  or  four  feet  from 
the  lever,  at  one  side  of  it,  and  towards  the  end  in  which 
the  wheel  is  fixed  (Plate  2.  Fig.  10.  which  is  a  vue 
nfoiseau),  in  the  same  manner  as  the  treadle  of  a  common 
lathe  is  managed,  and  as  the  treadle  of  a  loom  is  some- 
times guided.* 

EXPERIMENT    XI. 

Under  the  wheel  of  this  lever  place  an  inclined  plane 
or  half-wedge  (Plate  2.  Fig.  7.)  on  the  wooden  road, 
with  rollers  under  it,  to  prevent  friction  ;f  fasten  a  rope 

*  In  a  loom,  this  secondary  lever  is  called  a  lamb,  by  mistake,  for 
lam,  from  lamina,  a  slip  of  wood. 

t  There  should  be  three  rollers  used ;  one  of  them  must  be  placed 
fcefore  the  sledge,  under  which  it  will  easily  find  its  place,  if  the 
bottom  of  the  sledge  near  the  foremost  end  is  a  little  sloped  upward. 
To  retain  this  foremost  roller  in  its  place  until  the  sledge  meets  it,  it 
should  be  stuck  lightly  on  the  road  with  two  small  bits  of  wax  or  pitch. 


354  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

to  the  foremost  end  of  the  wedge,  and  pass  it  through 
the  pulleys  (P  4  and  P  3)  as  in  the  fifth  experiment. 
Let  a  boy  draw  the  sledge  by  this  rope  over  his  shoulder, 
and  he  will  find,  that  as  it  advances  it  will  raise  the 
weight  upward ;  the  wedge  is  five  feet  long,  and  ele- 
vated one  foot.  Now,  if  the  perpendicular  ascent  of  the 
weight,  and  the  space  through  which  he  advances,  be 
compared,  he  will  find  that  the  space  through  which  he 
has  passed  will  be  five  times  as  great  as  that  through 
which  the  weight  has  ascended ;  and  that  this  wedge 
has  enabled  him  to  raise  five  times  as  much  as  he  could 
raise  without  it,  if  his  strength  were  applied,  as  in  Ex- 
periment i.,  without  any  mechanical  advantage.  By 
making  this  wedge  in  two  parts  hinged  together,  with  a 
graduated  piece  to  keep  them  asunder,  the  wedge  may 
be  adjusted  to  any  given  obliquity ;  and  it  will  be  always 
found,  that  the  mechanical  advantage  of  the  wedge  may 
be  ascertained  by  comparing  its  perpendicular  elevation 
with  its  base.  If  the  base  of  the  wedge  is  2,  3,  4,  5,  or 
any  other  number  of  times  greater  than  its  height,  it 
will  enable  the  boy  to  raise  respectively  2,  3,  4,  or  5 
times  more  weight  than  he  could  do  in  Experiment  i., 
by  which  his  power  is  estimated. 

The  Screw. 

The  screw  is  an  inclined  plane  wound  round  a  cylinder ; 
the  height  of  all  its  revolutions  round  the  cylinder  taken 
together,  compared  with  the  space  through  which  the 
power  that  turns  it  passes,  is  the  measure  of  its  me- 
chanical advantage*  Let  the  lever  used  in  the  last 
experiment  be  turned  in  such  a  manner  as  to  reach  from 
its  gudgeon  to  the  shaft  of  the  Panorganon,  guided  by 
an  attendant  lever  as  before.  (Plate  2.  Fig.  8.)  Let 
the  wheel  rest  upon  the  lowest  helix  or  thread  of  the 
screw:  as  the  arms  of  the  shaft  are  turned  round  the 
wheel  will  ascend,  and  carry  up  the  weight  which  is 
fastened  to  the  lever.f  As  the  situation  of  the  screw 
prevents  the  weight  from  being  suspended  exactly  from 

*  Mechanical  advantage  is  not  a  proper  term,  but  our  language  is 
deficient  in  proper  technical  terms.  The  word  power  is  used  so 
indiscriminately,  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  convey  our  meaning 
without  employing  it  more  strictly. 

f  In  this  experiment,  the  boy  should  pull  as  near  as  possible  to 
the  shaft,  within  a  foot  of  it,  for  instance,  else  he  will  have  such 
mechanical  advantage  as  cannot  be  counterbalanced  by  any  weight 
which  the  machine  would  be  strong  enough  to  bear. 


MECHANICS.  365 

the  centre  of  the  screw,  proper  allowance  must  be  made 
for  this  in  estimating  the  force  of  the  screw,  or  deter- 
mining the  mechanical  advantage  gained  by  the  lever: 
this  can  be  done  by  measuring  the  perpendicular  ascent 
of  the  weight,  which  in  all  cases  is  better,  and  more  ex- 
peditious, than  measuring  the  parts  of  a  machine,  and 
estimating  its  force  by  calculation,;  because  the  different 
diameters  of  ropes,  and  other  small  circumstances,  are 
frequently  mistaken  in  estimates. 

The  space  passed  through  by  the  moving  power  and 
by  that  which  it  moves,  are  infallible  data  for  estimating 
the  powers  of  engines.  Two  material  subjects  of  ex- 
periments yet  remain  for  the  Panorganon  ;  friction,  and 
wheels  of  carriages  :  but  we  have  already  extended  this 
article  far  beyond  its  just  proportion  to  similar  chapters 
in  this  work.  We  repeat,  that  it  is  not  intended  in  this, 
or  in  any  other  part  of  our  design,  to  write  treatises 
upon  science;  but  merely  to  point  out  methods  for 
initiating  young  people  in  the  rudiments  of  knowledge, 
and  of  giving  them  a  clear  and  distinct  view  of  those 
principles  upon  which  they  are  founded.  No  preceptor 
who  has  had  experience,  will  cavil  at  the  superficial 
knowledge  of  a  boy  of  twelve  or  thirteen  upon  these 
subjects  ;  he  will  perceive,  that  the  general  view  which 
we  wish  to  give  our  pupils  of  the  useful  arts  and  sci- 
ences, must  certainly  tend  to  form  a  taste  for  literature 
and  investigation.  The  sciolist  has  learned  only  to  talk — 
we  wish  to  teach  our  pupils  to  think,  upon  the  various 
objects  of  human  speculation. 

The  Panorganon  may  be  employed  in  trying  the  re- 
sistance of  air  and  water ;  the  force  of  different  mus- 
cles ;  and  in  a  great  variety  of  amusing  and  useful  ex- 
periments. In  academies  and  private  families  it  may 
be  erected  in  the  place  allotted  for  amusement,  where 
it  will  furnish  entertainment  for  many  a  vacant  hour. 
When  it  has  lost  its  novelty,  the  shaft  may  from  time 
to  time  be  taken  down,  and  a  swing  may  be  suspended 
in  its  place.  It  may  be  constructed  at  the  expense  of 
five  or  six  pounds :  that  which  stands  before  our  win- 
dow was  made  for  less  than  three  guineas,  as  we  had 
many  of  the  materials  beside  us  for  other  purposes. 


356  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CHYMISTRY. 

IN  the  first  attempts  to  teach  chymistry  to  children, 
objects  should  be  selected,  the  principal  properties  of 
which  may  be  easily  discriminated  by  the  senses  of 
touch,  taste,  or  smell ;  and  such  terms  should  be  em- 
ployed as  do  not  require  accurate  definition. 

When  a  child  has  been  caught  in  a  shower  of  snow, 
he  goes  to  the  fire  to  warm  and  dry  himself.  After  he 
has  been  before  the  fire  for  some  time,  instead  of  be- 
coming dry,  he  finds  that  he  is  wetter  than  he  was  be- 
fore :  water  drops  from  his  hat  and  clothes,  and  the 
snow  with  which  he  was  covered  disappears.  If  you 
ask  him  what  has  become  of  the  snow,  and  why  he  has 
become  wetter,  he  cannot  tell  you.  Give  him  a  teacup 
of  snow,  desire  him  to  place  it  before  the  fire,  he  per- 
ceives that  the  snow  rnelts,  that  it  becomes  water.  If 
he  puts  his  finger  into  the  water,  he  finds  that  it  is 
warmer  than  snow;  he  then  perceives  that  the  fire 
which  warmed  him  warmed  likewise  the  snow,  which 
then  became  water ;  or,  in  other  words,  he  discovers 
that  the  heat  which  came  from  the  fire  goes  into  the 
snow  and  melts  it :  he  thus  acquires  the  idea  of  the  dis- 
solution of  snow  by  heat. 

If  the  cup  containing  the  water,  or  melted  snow,  be 
taken  from  the  fire  and  put  out  of  the  window  on  a 
frosty  day,  he  perceives  that  in  time  the  water  grows 
colder ;  that  a  thin,  brittle  skin  spreads  over  it,  which 
grows  thicker  by  degrees,  till  at  length  all  the  water  be- 
comes ice ;  and  if  the  cup  be  again  put  before  the  fire, 
the  ice  returns  to  water.  Thus  he  discovers,  that  by 
diminishing  the  heat  of  water,  it  becomes  ice ;  by  add- 
ing heat  to  ice,  it  becomes  water. 

A  child  watches  the  drops  of  melted  sealing-wax  as 
they  fall  upon  paper.  When  he  sees  you  stir  the  wax 
about,  and  perceives  that  what  was  formerly  hard  now 
becomes  soft  and  very  hot,  he  will  apply  his  former 
knowledge  of  the  effects  of  heat  upon  ice  and  snow,  and 
he  will  tell  you  that  the  heat  of  the  candle  melts  the  wax. 


CHYMISTRY.  357 

By  these  means,  the  principle  of  the  solution  of  bodies 
by  heat  will  be  imprinted  upon  his  memory ;  and  you 
may  now  enlarge  his  ideas  of  solution. 

When  a  lump  of  sugar  is  put  into  a  dish  of  hot  tea,  a 
child  sees  that  it  becomes  less  and  less,  till  at  last  it  dis- 
appears. What  has  become  of  the  sugar  ?  Your  pupil 
will  say  that  it  is  melted  by  the  heat  of  the  tea:  but  if 
it  be  put  into  cold  tea,  or  cold  water,  he  will  find  that  it 
dissolves,  though  more  slowly.  You  should  then  show 
him  some  fine  sand,  some  clay,  and  chalk,  thrown  into 
water  ;  and  he  will  perceive  the  difference  between  me- 
chanical mixture  and  diffusion,  or  chymical  mixture. 
Chymical  mixture,  as  that  of  sugar  in  water,  depends 
upon  the  attraction  that  subsists  between  the  parts  of 
the  solid  and  fluid  which  are  combined.  Mechanical 
mixture  is  only  the  suspension  of  the  parts  of  a  solid  in 
a  fluid.  When  fine  sand,  chalk,  or  clay  is  put  into  water, 
the  water  continues  for  some  time  turbid  or  muddy  ;  but 
by  degrees  the  sand,  &c.  falls  to  the  bottom,  and  the 
water  becomes  clear.  In  the  chymical  mixture  of  sugar 
and  water  there  is  no  muddiness  ;  the  fluid  is  clear  and 
transparent,  even  while  it  is  stirred,  and  when  it  is  at 
rest,  there  is  no  sediment ;  the  sugar  is  joined  with  the 
water ;  a  new  fluid  substance  is  formed  out  of  the  two 
simple  bodies,  sugar  and  water,  and  though  the  parts 
which  compose  the  mixture  are  not  discernible  to  the 
eye,  yet  they  are  perceptible  by  the  taste. 

After  he  has  observed  the  mixture,  the  child  should 
be  asked  whether  he  knows  any  method  by  which  he 
can  separate  the  sugar  from  the  water.  In  the  boiling 
of  a  kettle  of  water,  he  has  seen  the  steam  which  issues 
from  the  mouth  of  the  vessel ;  he  knows  that  the  steam 
is  formed  by  the  heat  from  the  fire,  which,  joining  with 
the  water,  drives  its  parts  farther  asunder,  and  makes  it 
take  another  form,  that  of  vapour  or  steam.  He  may 
apply  this  knowledge  to  the  separation  of  the  sugar  arid 
water  ;  he  may  turn  the  water  into  steam,  and  the  sugar 
will  be  left  in  a  vessel  in  a  solid  form.  If,  instead  of 
evaporating  the  water,  the  boy  had  added  a  greater 
quantity  of  sugar  to  the  mixture,  he  would  have  seen 
that  after  a  certain  time  the  water  would  dissolve 
no  more  of  the  sugar  ;  the  superfluous  sugar  would  fall 
to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel  as  the  sand  had  done  :  the 
pupil  should  then  be  told  that  the  liquid  is  saturated  with 
the  solid. 


358  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

By  these  simple  experiments,  a  child  may  acquire  a 
general  knowledge  of  solution,  evaporation,  and  satura- 
tion, without  the  formality  of  a  lecture  or  the  apparatus 
of  a.  chymist.  In  all  your  attempts  to  instruct  him  in 
chymistry,  the  greatest  care  should  be  taken  that  he 
should  completely  understand  one  experiment  before 
yo-.i  proceed  to  another.  The  common  metaphorical 
expression,  that  the  mind  should  have  time  lo  digest 
the  food  which  it  receives,  is  founded  upon  fact  and  ob- 
servation. 

Our  pupil  should  see  the  solution  of  a  variety  ol sub- 
stances in  fluids,  as  salt  in  water;  marble,  cfea'.ic,  or 
alkalis,  in  acids  ;  and  camphire  in  spirits  of  vine  :  this 
last  experiment  he  may  try  by  himself,  as  it  i»  not  dan- 
gerous. Certainly  many  experiments  are  dangerous, 
and  therefore  unfit  for  children ;  but  others  may  be  se- 
lected, which  they  may  safely  try  without  any  assist- 
ance ;  and  the  dangerous  experiments  may,  when  they 
are  necessary,  be  shown  to  them  by  some  careful  per- 
son. Their  first  experiments  should  be  such  as  they 
can  readily  execute,  and  of  which  the  result  may  proba- 
bly be  successful :  this  success  will  please  and  interest 
the  pupils,  and  will  encourage  them  to  perseverance. 

A  child  may  have  some  spirit  of  wine  and  some  cam- 
phire given  to  him  :  the  camphire  will  dissolve  in  the 
spirit  of  wine,  the  spirit  is  saturated  ;  but  then  he  will  be 
at  a  loss  how  to  separate  them  again.  To  separate 
themf  he  must  pour  into  the  mixture  a  considerable 
quantity  of  water;  he  will  immediately  see  the  liquor, 
which  was  transparent,  become  muddy  and  white :  this 
is  owing  to  the  separation  of  the  camphire  from  the 
spirit ;  the  camphire  falls  to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel  in 
the  form  of  a  curd.  If  the  child  had  weighed  the  cam- 
phire, both  before  and  after  its  solution,  he  would  have 
found  the  result  nearly  the  same.  He  should  be  in- 
formed that  this  chymical  operation  (for  technical  terms 
should  now  be  used)  is  called  precipitation  .^  the  sub- 
stance that  is  separated  from  the  mixture  by  "the  intro- 
duction of  another  body,  is  cast  down,  or  precipitated 
from  the  mixture.  In  this  instance,  the  spirit  of  wine  at- 
tracted the  camphire,  and  therefore  dissolved  it.  When 
the  water  was  poured  in,  the  spirit  of  wine  attracted  the 
water  more  strongly  than  it  did  the  camphire;  the  carn- 
phire  being  let  loose,  fell  to  the  bottom  of  the  vessel. 
The  pupil  has  now  been  shown  two  methods  by 


CHYMISTRV.  359 

which  a  solid  may  be  separated  from  a  fluid  in  which  it 
has  been  dissolved. 

A  still  should  now  be  produced,  and  the  pupil  should 
be  instructed  in  the  nature  of  distillation.  By  experi- 
ments he  will  learn  the  difference  between  the  volatility 
of  different  bodies  ;  or,  in  other  words,  he  will  learn  that 
some  are  made  fluid,  or  are  turned  into  vapour,  by  a 
greater  or  less  degree  of  heat  than  others.  The  de- 
grees of  heat  should  be  shown  to  him  by  the  thermome- 
ter; and  the  use  of  the  thermometer,  and  its  nature, 
should  be  explained.  As  the  pupil  already  knows  that 
most  bodies  expand  by  heat,  he  will  readily  understand, 
that  an  increase  of  heat  expands  the  mercury  in  the 
bulb  of  the  thermometer,  which,  having  no  other  space 
for  its  expansion,  rises  in  the  small  glass  tube  ;  and  that 
the  degree  of  heat  to  which  it  is  exposed,  is  marked  by 
the  figures  on  the  scale  of  the  instrument. 

The  business  of  distillation  is  to  separate  the  more 
volatile  from  the  less  volatile  of  two  bodies.  The  whole 
mixture  is  put  into  a  vessel,  under  which  there  is  fixe : 
the  most  volatile  liquor  begins  first  to  turn  into  vapour, 
and  rises  into  a  higher  vessel,  which,  being  kept  cold  by 
water  or  snow,  condenses  the  evaporated  fluid;  after  it 
has  been  condensed,  it  drops  into  another  vessel.  In. 
the  experiment  that  the  child  has  just  tried,  after  having 
separated  the  camphire  from  the  spirit  of  wine  by  pre- 
cipitation, he  may  separate  the  spirit  from  the  water  by 
distillation.  When  the  substance  that  rises,  or  that  is 
separated  from  other  bodies  by  heat,  is  a  solid,  or  when 
what  is  collected  after  the  operation  is  solid,  the  pro- 
cess is  not  called  distillation,  but  sublimation. 

Our  pupil  may  next  be  made  acquainted  with  the 
general  qualities  of  acids  and  alkalis.  For  instructing 
him  in  this  part  of  chymistry,  definition  should  as  much 
as  possible  be  avoided ;  example,  and  ocular  demon- 
stration, should  be  pursued.  Who  would  begin  to  ex- 
plain by  words  the  difference  between  an  acid  and  an 
alkali,  when  these  can  be  shown  by  experiments  upon 
the  substances  themselves !  The  first  great  difference 
which  is  perceptible  between  an  acid  and  an  alkali,  is 
their  taste.  Let  a  child  have  a  distinct  perception  of  the 
difference  of  their  tastes  ;  let  him  be  able  to  distinguish 
them  when  his  eyes  are  shut ;  let  him  taste  the  strong- 
est of  each,  so  as  not  to  hurt  him  ;  and  when  he  has 
once  acquired  distinct  notions  of  the  pungent  taste  of 


360  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

an  alkali  and  of  the  sour  taste  of  an  acid,  he  will  never 
forget  the  difference.  He  must  afterward  see  the  effects 
of  an  acid  and  an  alkali  on  the  blue  colour  of  vegetables  at 
separate  times,  and  not  on  the  same  day  ;  by  these  means 
he  will  more  easily  remember  the  experiments,  and  he 
will  not  confound  their  different  results.  The  blue  col- 
our of  vegetables  is  turned  red  by  acids  and  green  by 
alkalis.  Let  your  pupil  take  a  radish,  and  scrape  off 
the  blue  part  into  water;  it  should  be  left  for  some 
time,  until  the  water  becomes  of  a  blue  colour:  let  him 
pour  some  of  this  liquor  into  two  glasses  ;  add  vinegar 
or  lemon  juice  to  one  of  them,  and  the  liquor  will  be- 
come red ;  dissolve  some  alkali  in  water,  and  pour  this 
into  the  other  glass,  and  the  dissolved  radish  will  be- 
come green.  If  into  the  red  mixture  alkali  be  poured, 
the  colour  will  change  into  green  ;  and  if  into  the  liquor 
which  was  made  green,  acid  be  poured,  the  colour  will 
change  to  red  :  thus  alternately  you  may  pour  acid  or 
alkali,  and  produce  a  red  or  green  colour  successively. 
Paper  stained  with  the  blue  colour  of  vegetables  is  called 
test  paper  ;  this  is  changed  by  the  least  powerful  of 
the  acids  or  alkalis,  and  will,  therefore,  be  peculiarly 
useful  in  the  first  experiments  of  our  young  pupils.  A 
child  should  for  safety  use  the  weakest  acids  in  his  first 
trials,  but  he  should  be  shown  that  the  effects  are  simi- 
lar, whatever  acids  we  employ  ;  only  the  colour  will  be 
darker  when  we  make  use  of  the  strong,  than  when  we 
use  the  weak  acids.  By  degrees  the  pupil  should  be  ac- 
customed to  employ  the  strong  acids ;  such  as  the  vitri- 
olic, the  nitric,  and  the  muriatic,  which  three  are  called 
fossil  acids,  to  distinguish  them  from  the  vegetable,  or 
weaker  acids.  We  may  be  permitted  to  advise  the 
young  chymist  to  acquire  the  habit  of  wiping  the  neck 
of  the  vessel  out  of  which  he  pours  any  strong  acid,  as 
the  drops  of  the  liquor  will  not  then  burn  his  hand  when 
he  takes  hold  of  the  bottle  ;  nor  will  they  injure  the  table 
upon  which  he  is  at  work.  This  custom,  trivial  as  it 
may  seem,  is  of  advantage,  as  it  gives  an  appearance  of 
order,  and  of  ease  and  steadiness,  which  are  all  neces- 
sary in  trying  chymical  experiments.  The  little  pupil 
may  be  told,  that  the  custom  which  we  have  just  men- 
tioned is  the  constant  practice  of  the  great  chymist, 
Dr.  Black. 

We  should  take  care  how  we  first  use  the  term  salt 
in  speaking  to  a  child,  lest  he   should   acquire  indis- 


UHYHISTRY.  361 

tinct  ideas  :  he  should  be  told  that  the  kind  of  salt  which 
he  eats  is  not  the  only  salt  in  the  world ;  he  may  be 
put  in  mind  of  the  kind  of  salts  which  he  has,  perhaps, 
smelt  in  smelling-bottles ;  and  he  should  be  farther 
told,  that  there  are  a  number  of  earthy,  alkaline,  and 
metallic  salts,  with  which  he  will  in  time  become  ac- 
quainted. 

When  an  acid  is  put  upon  an  alkali,  or  upon  limestone, 
chalk,  or  marl,  a  bubbling  may  be  observed,  and  a  noise 
is  heard ;  a  child  should  be  told  that  this  is  called 
effervescence.  After  some  time  the  effervescence  ceases, 
and  the  limestone,  &c.  is  dissolved  in  the  acid.  This 
effervescence,  the  child  should  be  informed,  arises  from 
the  escape  of  a  considerable  quantity  of  a  particular 
sort  of  air,  called  fixed  air,  or  carbonic  acid  gas.  In  the 
solution  of  the  lime  in  the  acid,  the  lime  and  acid  have 
an  attraction  for  one  another  ;  but  as  the  present  mix- 
ture has  no  attraction  for  the  gas,  it  escapes,  and  in 
rising  forms  the  bubbling  or  effervescence.  This  maybe 
proved  to  a  child,  by  showing  him  that  if  an  acid  is 
poured  upon  caustic  lime  (lime  which  has  had  this 
gas  taken  from  it  by  fire)  there- will  be  no  efferves- 
cence. 

There  are  various  other  chymical  experiments  with 
which  children  may  amuse  themselves;  they  may  be 
employed  in  analyzing  marl,  or  clays  ;  they  may  be  pro- 
vided with  materials  for  making  ink  or  soap.  It  should 
be  pointed  out  to  them,  that  the  common  domestic  and 
culinary  operations  of  making  butter  and  cheese,  baking, 
brewing,  &c.,  are  all  chymical  processes.  We  hope  the 
reader  will  not  imagine,  that  we  have  in  this  slight 
sketch  pretended  to  point  out  the  best  experiments 
which  can  be  devised  for  children ;  we  have  only  offered 
a  few  of  the  simplest  which  occurred  to  us,  that  parents 
may  not,  at  the  conclusion  of  this  chapter,  exclaim, 
"  What  is  to  be  done  ?  How  are  we  to  begin  ?  What 
experiments  are  suited  to  children  ?  If  we  knew,  our 
children  should  try  them." 

It  is  of  little  consequence  what  particular  experiment 
is  selected  for  the  first ;  we  only  wish  to  show  that  the 
minds  of  children  may  be  turned  to  this  subject ;  and 
that,  by  accustoming  them  to  observation,  we  give  them 
not  only  the  power  of  learning  what  has  been  already 
discovered,  but  of  adding,  as  they  grow  older,  some- 
thing to  the  general  stock  of  human  knowledge. 
31 


362  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

ON    PUBLIC    AND    PRIVATE    EDUCATION. 

THE  anxious  parent,  after  what  has  been  said  concern- 
ing tasks  and  classical  literature,  will  inquire  whether 
the  whole  plan  of  education  recommended  in  the  follow- 
ing pages  is  intended  to  relate  to  public  or  to  private 
education.  It  is  intended  to  relate  to  both.  It  is  not 
usual  to  send  children  to  school  before  they  are  eight  or 
nine  years  old :  our  first  object  is  to  show  how  educa- 
tion may  be  conducted  to  that  age  in  such  a  manner, 
that  children  may  be  well  prepared  for  the  acquisition 
of  all  the  knowledge  usually  taught  at  schools,  and  may 
be  perfectly  free  from  many  of  the  faults  that  pupils 
sometimes  have  acquired  before  they  are  sent  to  any 
public  seminary.  It  is  obvious,  that  public  preceptors 
would  be  saved  much  useless  labour  and  anxiety,  were 
parents  to  take  some  pains  in  the  previous  instruction 
of  their  children ;  and  more  especially,  if  they  were  to 
prevent  them  from  learning  a  taste  for  total  idleness, 
or  habits  of  obstinacy  and  of  falsehood,  which  can 
scarcely  be  conquered  by  the  utmost  care  and  vigilance. 
We  can  assure  parents,  from  experience,  that  if  they 
pursue  steadily  a  proper  plan  with  regard  to  the  under- 
standing and  the  moral  habits,  they  will  not  have  much 
trouble  with  the  education  of  their  children  after  the 
age  we  have  mentioned,  as  long  as  they  continue  to  in- 
struct them  at  home  ;  and  if  they  send  them  to  public 
schools,  their  superiority  in  intellect  and  in  conduct  will 
quickly  appear.  Though  we  have  been  principally 
attentive  to  all  the  circumstances  which  can  be  essen- 
tial to  the  management  of  young  people  during  the  first 
nine  or  ten  years  of  their  lives,  we  have  by  no  means 
confined  our  observations  to  this  period  alone ;  but  we 
have  endeavoured  to  lay  before  parents  a  general  view 
of  the  human  mind  (as  far  as  it  relates  to  our  subject), 
of  proper  methods  of  teaching,  and  of  the  objects  of 
rational  instruction — so  that  they  may  extend  the  prin- 


PUBLIC    AND    PRIVATE    EDUCATION.  3ll3 

ciples  which  we  have  laid  down,  through  all  the  suc- 
ceeding periods  of  education,  and  may  apply  them  as  it 
may  best  suit  their  peculiar  situations  or  their  peculiar 
wishes.  We  are  fully  conscious  that  we  have  executed 
but  very  imperfectly  even  our  own  design  ;  that  experi- 
mental education  is  yet  but  in  its  infancy,  and  that  bound- 
less space  for  improvement  remains  ;  but  we  flatter 
ourselves,  that  attentive  parents  and  preceptors  will 
consider  with  candour  the  practical  assistance  which  is 
offered  to  them,  especially  as  we  have  endeavoured  to  "1 
express  our  opinions  without  dogmatical  presumption, 
and  without  the  illiberal  exclusion  of  any  existing  insti- 
tutions or  prevailing  systems.  People  who,  even  with 
the  best  intentions,  attack  with  violence  any  of  these, 
and  who  do  not  consider  what  is  practicable,  as  well  as 
what  ought  to  be  done,  are  not  likely  to  persuade  or  to 
convince  mankind  ;  to  increase  the  general  sum  of  hap- 
piness, or  their  own  portion  of  felicity.  Those  who 
really  desire  to  be  of  service  to  society,  should  point 
out  decidedly,  but  with  temperate  indulgence  for  the 
feelings  and  opinions  of  others,  whatever  appears  to 
them  absurd  or  reprehensible  in  any  prevailing  customs  : 
having  done  this,  they  will  rest  in  the  persuasion  that 
what  is  most  reasonable  will  ultimately  prevail. 

Mankind,  at  least  the  prudent  and  rational  part  of  man- 
kind, have  an  aversion  to  pull  down,  till  they  have  a 
moral  certainty  that  they  can  build  up  a  better  edifice 
than  that  which  has  been  destroyed.  "  Would  you,"  says 
an  eminent  writer,  "  convince  me  that  the  house  I  live  in 
is  a  bad  one,  and  would  you  persuade  me  to  quit  it ; 
build  a  better  in  my  neighbourhood ;  I  shall  be  very 
ready  to  go  into  it,  and  shall  return  you  my  very  sincere 
thanks."  Till  another  house  be  ready,  a  wise  man  will 
stay  in  his  old  one,  however  inconvenient  Hs  arrange- 
ment, however  seducing  the  plans  of  the  enthusiastic 
projector.  We  do  not  set  up  for  projectors  or  reform- 
ers :  we  wish  to  keep  steadily  in  view  the  actual  state 
of  things,  as  well  as  our  own  hopes  of  progressive  im- 
provement; and  to  seize  and  combine  all  that  can  be 
immediately  serviceable  ;  all  that  can  assist,  without 
precipitating  improvements.  Every  well-informed  pa- 
rent, and  every  liberal  schoolmaster,  must  be  sensible 
that  there  are  many  circumstances  in  the  management 
of  public  education  which  might  be  condemned  wit!i 
reason;  that  too  much  time  is  sacrificed  to  the  st.udv  ». 


364  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

the  learned  languages ;  that  too  little  attention  is  paid 
to  the  general  improvement  of  the  understanding  and 
formation  of  the  moral  character ;  that  a  schoolmaster 
cannot  pay  attention  to  the  temper  or  habits  of  each  of 
his  numerous  scholars;  and  that  parents,  during  that 
portion  of  the  year  which  their  children  spend  with 
them,  are  not  sufficiently  solicitous  to  co-operate  with 
the  views  of  the  schoolmaster;  so  that  the  public  is 
counteracted  by  the  private  education.  These,  and 
many  other  things,  we  have  heard  objected  to  schools  ; 
but  what  are  we  to  put  in  the  place  of  schools  ?  How 
are  vast  numbers  who  are  themselves  occupied  in  pub- 
lic or  professional  pursuits,  how  are  men  in  business  or 
in  trade,  artists  or  manufacturers,  to  educate  their  fam- 
ilies, when  they  have  not  time  to  attend  to  them  ;  when 
they  may  not  think  themselves  perfectly  prepared  to 
undertake  the  classical  instruction  and  entire  education 
of  several  boys ;  and  when,  perhaps,  they  may  not  be 
in  circumstances  to  engage  the  assistance  of  such  a  pre- 
ceptor as  they  could  approve  ?  It  is  obvious,  that  if  in 
such  situations  parents  were  to  attempt  to  educate  their 
children  at  home,  they  would  harass  themselves  and 
probably  spoil  their  pupils,  irrecoverably.  It  would, 
therefore,  be  in  every  respect  impolitic  and  cruel  to 
disgust  those  with  public  schools  who  have  no  other 
resource  for  the  education  of  their  families.  There  is 
another  reason  which  has  perhaps  operated,  unperceived 
upon  many  in  the  middle  ranks  of  life,  and  which  de- 
termines them  in  favour  of  public  education.  Persons 
of  narrow  fortune,  or  persons  who  have  acquired  wealth 
in  business,  are  often  desirous  of  breeding  up  their  sons 
to  the  liberal  professions  :  and  they  are  conscious  that 
the  company,  the  language,  and  the  style  of  life,  which 
their  children  would  be  accustomed  to  at  home,  are  be- 
neath what  would  be  suited  to  their  future  professions. 
Public  schools  efface  this  rusticity,  and  correct  the  faults 
of  provincial  dialect :  in  this  point  of  view  they  are 
highly  advantageous.  We  strongly  recommend  it  to 
such  parents  to  send  their  children  to  large  public  schools, 
to  Rugby,  Eton,  or  Westminster ;  riot  to  any  small 
school ;  much  less  to  one  in  their  own  neighbourhood. 
Small  schools  are  apt  to  be  filled  with  persons  of  nearly 
the  same  stations  and  out  of  the  same  neighbourhood : 
from  this  circumstance,  they  contribute  to  perpetuate 
uncouth,  antiquated  idioms,  and  many  of  those  obscure 


PUBLIC    AND    PRIVATK    EDUCATION.  36D 

prejudices  which  cloud  the  intellect  in  the  future  business 
of  life. 

While  we  admit  the  necessity  which  compels  the 
largest  portion  of  society  to  prefer  public  seminaries 
of  education,  it  is  incumbent  upon  us  to  caution  parents 
against  expecting  that  the  moral  character,  the  under- 
standings, or  the  tempers  of  their  children,  should  be 
improved  at  large  schools  ;  there  the  learned  languages, 
we  acknowledge,  are  successfully  taught.  Many  satisfy 
themselves  with  the  assertion,  that  public  education  is 
the  least  troublesome  ;  that  a  boy  once  sent  to  school  is 
settled  for  several  years  of  life,  and  will  require  only 
short  returns  of  parental  care  twice  a  year,  at  the  holy- 
days.  It  is  hardly  to  be  supposed  that  those  who  think 
in  this  manner  should  have  paid  any  anxious,  or  at  least 
any  judicious  attention,  to  the  education  of  their  chil- 
dren, previous  to  sending  them  to  school.  It  is  not 
likely  that  they  should  be  very  solicitous  about  the 
commencement  of  an  education  which  they  never 
meant  to  finish :  they  would  think  that  what  could  be 
done  during  the  first  few  years  of  life,  is  of  little  conse- 
quence ;  that  children  from  four  to  seven  years  old  are 
too  young  to  be  taught ;  and  that  a  school  would 
speedily  supply  all  deficiencies,  and  correct  all  those 
faults  which  begin  at  that  age  to  be  troublesome  at 
home.  Thus  to  a  public  school,  as  to  a  general  in- 
firmary for  mental  disease,  all  desperate  subjects  are 
sent,  as  the  last  resource.  They  take  with  them  the 
contagion  of  their  vices,  which  quickly  runs  through 
the  whole  tribe  of  their  companions,  especially  among 
those  who  happen  to  be  nearly  of  their  own  age,  whose 
sympathy  peculiarly  exposes  them  to  the  danger  of  in- 
fection. We  are  often  told,  that  as  young  people  have 
the  strongest  sympathy  with  each  other,  they  will  learn 
most  effectually  from  each  other's  example.  They  do 
learn  quickly  from  example,  and  this  is  one  of  the  dan- 
gers of  a  public  school :  a  danger  which  is  not  neces- 
sary, but  incidental ;  a  danger  against  which  no  school- 
master can  possibly  guard,  but  which  parents  can,  by 
the  previous  education  of  the  pupils,  prevent.  Boys 
are  led,  driven,  or  carried  to  school ;  and  in  a  school- 
room they  first  meet  with  those  who  are  to  be  their 
fellow-prisoners.  They  do  not  come  with  fresh,  un- 
prejudiced minds,  to  commence  their  course  of  social 
education ;  they  bring  with  them  all  the  ideas  and  habits 


366  PRACTICAL    RDTJCATION. 

which  they  have  already  learned  at  their  respective 
homes.  It  is  highly  unreasonable  to  expect,  that  all 
these  habits  should  be  reformed  by  a  public  preceptor. 
If  he  had  patience,  how  could  he  have  time  for  such  an 
undertaking?  Those  who  have  never  attempted  to 
break  a  pupil  of  any  one  bad  habit,  have  no  idea  of  the 
degree  of  patience  requisite  to  success.  We  once 
heard  an  officer  of  dragoons  assert,  that  he  would  rather 
break  twenty  horses  of  their  bad  habits,  than  one  man 
of  his.  The  proportionate  difficulty  of  teaching  boys 
may  be  easily  calculated. 

It  is  sometimes  asserted,  that  the  novelty  of  a  school 
life  and  the  change  of  situation  alter  the  habits,  and  form 
in  boys  a  new  character.  Habits  of  eight  or  nine  years 
standing  cannot  be  instantaneously,  perhaps  can  never 
be,  radically  destroyed:  they  will  mix  themselves  im- 
perceptibly with  the  new  ideas  which  are  planted  in 
their  minds ;  and  though  these  may  strike  the  eye  by 
the  rapidity  of  their  growth,  the  others,  which  have 
taken  a  strong  root,  will  not  easily  be  dispossessed  of 
the  soil.  In  this  new  character,  as  it  is  called,  there  will, 
to  a  discerning  eye,  appear  a  strong  mixture  of  the  old 
disposition.  The  boy  who  at  home  lived  with  his  father's 
servants,  and  was  never  taught  to  love  any  species  of 
literature,  will  not  acquire  a  taste  for  it  at  school, 
merely  by  being  compelled  to  learn  his  lessons  ;  the 
boy  who  at  home  was  suffered  to  be  the  little  tyrant  of 
a  family,  will,  it  is  true,  be  forced  to  submit  to  superior 
strength  or  superior  numbers  at  school;*  but  does  it 
improve  the  temper  to  practise  alternately  the  habits  of 
a  tyrant  and  a  slave  1  The  lesson  which  experience 
usually  teaches  to  the  temper  of  a  schoolboy,  is,  that 
strength,  and  power,  and  cunning,  will  inevitably  govern 
in  society :  as  to  reason,  it  is  out  of  the  question ;  it 
would  be  hissed  or  laughed  out  of  the  company.  With 
respect  to  social  virtues,  they  are  commonly  among 
schoolboys  so  much  mixed  with  party  spirit,  that  they 
mislead  even  the  best  dispositions.  A  boy  at  home, 
whose  pleasures  are  all  immediately  connected  with 
the  idea  of  self,  will  not  feel  a  sudden  enlargement  of 
mind  from  entering  a  public  school.  He  will,  probably, 
preserve  his  selfish  character  in  his  new  society ;  or, 

*  See  Barne's  Essay  on  Public  and  Private  Education.  Man. 
Chester  Society. 


PUBLIC    AND    PHIVATK     KDUCATION.  367 

even  suppose  he  catches  that,  of  his  companions,  the 
progress  is  not  great,  in  moral  education,  from  selfish- 
ness to  spirit  of  party :  the  one  is  a  despicable,  the 
other  a  dangerous,  principle  of  action.  It  has  been  ob- 
served, that  what  we  are  when  we  are  twenty,  depends 
on  what  we  were  when  we  were  ten  years  old.  What 
a  young  man  is  at  college,  depends  upon  what  he  was  at 
school ;  and  what  he  is  at  school,  depends  upon  what  he 
was  before  he  went  to  school.  In  his  father's  house, 
the  first  important  lessons,  those  which  decide  his  future 
abilities  and  character,  must  be  learned.  We  have  re- 
peated this  idea,  and  placed  it  in  different  points  of  view, 
in  hopes  that  it  will  catch  and  fix  the  attention.  Suppose 
that  parents  educated  their  children  well  for  the  first  eight 
or  nine  years  of  their  lives,  and  then  sent  them  all  to 
public  seminaries ;  what  a  difference  this  must  imme- 
diately make  in  public  education :  the  boys  would  be 
disposed  to  improve  themselves  with  all  the  ardour 
which  the  most  sanguine  preceptor  would  desire  ;  their 
tutors  would  find  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  unlearned ; 
no  habits  of  idleness  to  conquer  ;  no  perverse  stupidity 
would  provoke  them ;  no  capricious  contempt  of  applica- 
tion would  appear  in  pupils  of  the  quickest  abilities. 
The  moral  education  could  then  be  made  a  part  of  the 
preceptor's  care,  with  some  hopes  of  success  ;  the  pupils 
would  all  have  learned  the  first  necessary  moral  princi- 
ples and  habits;  they  would,  consequently,  be  all  fit 
companions  for  each  other ;  in  each  other's  society 
they  would  continue  to  be  governed  by  the  same  ideas 
of  right  and  wrong  by  which  they  had  been  governed 
all  their  lives ;  they  would  not  have  any  new  character 
to  learn  ;  they  would  improve,  by  mixing  with  numbers, 
the  social  virtues,  without  learning  party  spirit ;  and 
though  they  would  love  their  companions,  they  would 
not,  therefore,  combine  together  to  treat  their  instructers 
as  pedagogues  and  tyrants.  This  may  be  thought  an 
Utopian  idea  of  a  school ;  indeed  it  is  very  improbable, 
that  out  of  the  numbers  of  parents  who  send  their  chil- 
dren to  large  schools,  many  should  suddenly  be  much 
moved  by  any  thing  that  we  can  say,  to  persuade  them 
to  take  serious  trouble  in  their  previous  instruction. 
But  much  may  be  effected  by  gradual  attempts.  Ten 
well-educated  boys,  sent  to  a  public^seminary  at  nine  or 
ten  years  old,  would,  probably,  far  surpass  their  com- 
petitors in  every  respect ;  they  would  inspire  others 


368  PRACTICAL    KD17CATION. 

with  so  much  emulation,  would  do  their  parents  and 
preceptors  so  much  credit,  that  numbers  would  eagerly 
inquire  into  the  causes  of  their  superiority ;  and  these 
boys  would,  perhaps,  do  more  good  by  their  example, 
than  by  their  actual  acquirements.  We  do  not  mean 
to  promiser  that  a  boy  judiciously  educated  shall  appear 
at  ten  years  old  a  prodigy  of  learning ;  far  from  it :  we 
should  not  even  estimate  his  capacity,  or  the  chain  of 
his  future  progress,  by  the  quantity  of  knowledge  stored 
in  his  memory,  by  the  number  of  Latin  lines  he  has  got 
by  rote,  by  his  expertness  in  repeating  the  rules  of  his 
grammar,  by  his  pointing  out  a  number  of  places  readily 
in  a  map,  or  even  by  his  knowing  the  latitude  and  longi- 
tude of  all  the  capital  cities  in  Europe ;  these  are  all 
useful  articles  of  knowledge  ;  but  they  are  not  the  test 
of  a  good  education.  We  should  rather,  if  we  were  to 
examine  a  boy  of  ten  years  old,  for  the  credit  of  his 
parents,  produce  proofs  of  his  being  able  to  reason  accu- 
rately, of  his  quickness  in  invention,  of  his  habits  of  in- 
dustry and  application,  of  his  having  learned  to  general- 
ize his  ideas,  and  to  apply  his  observations  and  his  prin- 
ciples :  if  we  found  that  he  had  learned  all  or  any  of 
these  things,  we  should  be  in  little  pain  about  grammar, 
or  geography,  or  even  Latin ;  we  should  be  tolerably 
certain  that  he  would  not  long  remain  deficient  in  any 
of  the^e ;  we  should  know  that  he  would  overtake  and 
surpass  a  competitor  who  had  only  been  technically 
taught,  as  certainly  as  the  giant  would  overtake  the 
panting  dwarf,  who  might  have  many  miles  the  start  of 
him  in  the  race.  We  do  not  mean  to  say  that  a  boy 
should  not  be  taught  the  principles  of  grammar,  and 
some  knowledge  of  geography,  at  the  same  time  that 
his  understanding  is  cultivated  in  the  most  enlarged 
manner:  these  objects  are  not  incompatible;  and  we 
particularly  recommend  it  to  parents  who  intend  to  send 
their  children  to  school,  early  to  give  them  confidence  in 
themselves,  by  securing  the  rudiments  of  literary  educa- 
tion ;  otherwise  their  pupils,  with  a  real  superiority  of 
understanding,  may  feel  depressed,  and  may,  perhaps, 
be  despised,  when  they  mix  at  a  public  school  with 
numbers  who  will  estimate  their  abilities  merely  by 
their  proficiency  in  particular  studies. 
Mr.  Frend,*  in  recommending  the  study  of  arithmetic 

*  See  Mr.  Frend's  Principles  of  Algebra. 


PUBLIC    AND    PRIVATE    EDUCATION.  369 

for  young  people,  has  very  sensibly  remarked,  that  boys 
bred  up  in  public  schools  are  apt  to  compare  themselves 
with  each  other  merely  as  classical  scholars  ;  and,  when 
they  afterward  go  into  the  world  excellent  Greek  and 
Latin  scholars,  are  much  astonished  to  perceive,  that 
many  of  the  companions  whom  they  had  undervalued 
at  school,  get  before  them  when  they  come  to  actual 
business  and  to  actual  life.  Many,  in  the  pursuit  of 
their  classical  studies,  have  neglected  all  other  knowl- 
edge, especially  that  of  arithmetic,  that  useful,  essential 
branch  of  knowledge,  without  which  neither  the  abstract 
sciences  nor  practical  arts  can  be  taught.  The  pre- 
cision which  the  habit  of  applying  the  common  rules  of 
arithmetic  gives  to  the  understanding,  is  highly  advan- 
tageous, particularly  to  young  people  of  vivacity,  or,  as 
others  would  say,  of  genius.  The  influence  which  the 
habit  of  estimating  has  upon  that  part  of  the  moral  char- 
acter called  prudence,  is  of  material  consequence.  We 
shall  farther  explain  upon  this  subject,  when  we  speak 
of  the  means  of  teaching  arithmetic  and  reasoning  to 
children ;  we  only  mention  the  general  ideas  here,  to 
induce  intelligent  parents  to  attend  early  to  these  par- 
ticulars. If  they  mean  to  send  their  children  to  public 
classical  schools,  it  must  be  peculiarly  advantageous  to 
teach  them  early  the  rudiments  of  arithmetic,  and  to  give 
them  the  habit  of  applying  their  knowledge  in  the  com- 
mon business  of  life.  We  forbear  to  enumerate  other 
useful  things,  which  might  easily  be  taught  to  young 
people  before  they  leave  home,  because  we  do  not  wish 
to  terrify  with  the  apprehension,  that  a  perplexing 
variety  of  things  are  to  be  taught.  One  thing  well 
taught,  is  better  than  a  hundred  taught  imperfectly. 

The  effect  of  the  pains  which  are  taken  in  the  first 
nine  or  ten  years  of  a  child's  life,  may  not  be  apparent 
immediately  to  the  view,  but  it  will  gradually  become 
visible.  To  careless  observers,  two  boys  of  nine  years 
old,  who  have  been  very  differently  educated,  may  ap- 
pear nearly  alike  in  abilities,  in  temper,  and  in  the  prom- 
ise of  future  character.  Send  them  both  to  a  large  pub- 
lic school,  let  them  be  placed  in  the  same  new  situation, 
and  exposed  to  the  same  trials,  the  difference  will  then 
appear :  the  difference  in  a  few  years  will  be  such  as  to 
strike  every  eye,  and  people  will  wonder  what  can  have 
produced,  in  so  short  a  time,  such  an  amazing  change. 
In  the  Hindoo  art  of  dying,  the  same  liquors  communi- 
Q3 


370  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

cate  different  colours  to  particular  spots,  according  lo 
the  several  bases  previously  applied  :  to  the  ignorant 
eye,  no  difference  is  discernible  in  the  ground,  nor  can 
the  design  be  distinctly  traced  till  the  air,  and  light,  and 
open  exposure,  bring  out  the  bright  and  permanent  col- 
ours to  the  wondering  eye  of  the  spectator. 

Besides  bestowing  some  attention  upon  early  educa- 
tion, parents  who  send  their  children  to  school  may 
much  assist  the  public  preceptor,  by  judicious  conduct 
towards  children  during  the  portion  of  the  year  which  is 
usually  spent  at  home.*  Mistaken  parental  fondness 
delights  to  make  the  period  of  time  which  children 
spend  at  home,  as  striking  a  contrast  as  possible  with 
that  which  they  pass  at  school.  The  holydays  are  made 
a  jubilee,  or,  rather,  resemble  the  Saturnalia.  Even  if  pa- 
rents do  not  wish  to  represent  a  schoolmaster  as  a  tyrant, 
they  are  by  no  means  displeased  to  observe  that  he  is 
not  the  friend  or  favourite  of  their  children.  They  put 
themselves  in  mean  competition  with  him  for  their  affec- 
tion, instead  of  co-operating  with  him  in  all  his  views 
for  their  advantage.  How  is  it  possible  that  any  master 
can  long  retain  the  wish  or  the  hope  of  succeeding  in 
any  plan  of  education,  if  he  perceives  that  his  pupils  are 
but  partially  under  his  government ;  if  his  influence  over 
their  minds  be  counteracted  from  time  to  time  by  the 
superior  influence  of  their  parents  ? — an  influence  which 
he  must  not  wish  to  destroy.  To  him  is  left  the  power 
to  punish,  it  is  true  ;  but  parents  reserve  to  themselves 
the  privilege  to  reward.  The  ancients  did  not  suppose 
that  even  Jupiter  could  govern  the  world  without  the 
command  of  pain  and  pleasure.  Upon  the  vases  near 
his  throne,  depended  his  influence  over  mankind. 

And  what  are  these  holyday  delights  1 — and  in  what 
consist  paternal  rewards  ?  In  dissipation  and  idleness. 
With  these  are  consequently  associated  the  idea  of  hap- 
piness and  the  name  of  pleasure ;  the  name  is  often 
sufficient,  without  the  reality.  During  the  vacation, 
children  have  a  glimpse  of  what  is  called  the  world;  and 
then  are  sent  back  to  their  prison  with  heads  full  of  vis- 
ions of  liberty,  and  with  a  second-sight  of  the  blessed 
lives  which  they  are  to  lead  when  they  have  left  school 
for  ever.  What  man  of  sense  who  has  studied  the  hu- 
man mind,  who  knows  that  the  success  of  any  plan  of 

*  See  Williams's  Lectures  on  Education. 


PUBLIC    AND    PKIVATK     KDUCATION.  371 

education  must  depend  upon  the  concurrence  of  every 
person  and  every  circumstance,  for  years  together,  to 
the  same  point,  would  undertake  any  thing  more  than 
the  partial  instruction  of  pupils,  whose  leading  associa- 
tions and  habits  must  be  perpetually  broken  ?  When  the 
work  of  school  is  undone  during  the  holydays,  what  hand 
could  have  the  patience  perpetually  to  repair  the  web  ? 

During  the  vacations  spent  at  home,  children  may  be 
made  extremely  happy  in  the  society  and  in  the  affec- 
tions of  their  friends, — but  they  need  not  be  taught  that 
idleness  is  pleasure  :  on  the  contrary,  occupation  should, 
by  all  possible  methods,  be  rendered  agreeable  to  them  ; 
their  school  acquisitions,  their  knowledge  and  taste, 
should  be  drawn  out  in  conversation,  and  they  should 
be  made  to  feel  the  value  of  what  they  have  been  taught ; 
by  these  means  there  would  be  some  connexion,  some 
unity  of  design,  preserved  in  their  education.  Their 
schoolmasters  and  tutors  should  never  become  the 
theme  of  insipid  ridicule ;  nor  should  parents  ever  put 
their  influence  in  competition  with  that  of  a  preceptor  : 
on  the  contrary,  his  pupils  should  uniformly  perceive, 
that  from  his  authority  there  is  no  appeal,  except  to  the 
superior  power  of  reason,  which  should  be  the  avowed 
arbiter  to  which  all  should  be  submitted. 

Some  of  the  dangerous  effects  of  that  mixed  society 
at  schools  of  which  we  have  complained,  may  be  coun- 
teracted by  the  judicious  conduct  of  parents  during  the 
time  which  children  spend  at  home.  A  better  view  of 
society,  more  enlarged  ideas  of  friendship  and  of  justice, 
may  be  given  to  young  people,  and  the  vile  principle 
of  party  spirit  may  be  treated  with  just  contempt  and 
ridicule.  Some  standard,  some  rules  may  be  taught  to 
them,  by  which  they  may  judge  of  character  independ- 
ently of  prejudice  or  childish  prepossession. 

"  I  do  not  like  you,  Doctor  Fell ; 
The  reason  why,  I  cannot  tell 
But  this  I  know  full  well, 
I  do  not  like  you,  Doctor  Fell"— 

is  an  exact  specimen  of  the  usual  mode  of  reasoning, 
of  the  usual  method  in  which  an  ill-educated  schoolboy 
expresses  his  opinion  and  feelings  about  all  persons  and 
all  things.  "  The  reason  why1'  should  always  be  in- 
quired whenever  children  express  preference  or  aversion. 
To  connect  the  idea  of  childhood  with  that  of  inferi- 


372 


PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 


ty  and  contempt,  is  unjust  and  impolitic ;  it  should 
not  be  made  a  reproach  to  young  people  to  be  young, 
nor  should  it  be  pointed  out  to  them,  that  when  they  are 
some  years  older  they  will  be  more  respected ;  the  de- 
gree of  respect  which  they  really  command,  whether  in 
youth  or  age,  will  depend  upon  their  own  conduct,  their 
knowledge,  and  their  powers  of  being  useful  and  agree- 
able to  others.  If  they  are  convinced  of  this,  children 
will  not  at  eight  years  old  long  to  be  fifteen,  or  at  fifteen 
to  be  one-and-twenty ;  proper  subordination  would  be 
preserved,  and  the  scale  of  happiness  would  not  have  a 
forced  and  false  connexion  with  that  of  age.  If  parents 
did  not  at  first  excite  foolish  wishes  in  the  minds  of  their 
children,  and  then  imprudently  promise  that  these  wishes 
shall  be  gratified  at  certain  periods  of  their  existence, 
children  would  not  be  impatient  to  pass  over  the  years 
of  childhood  ;  those  years  which  idle  boys  wish  to  pass 
over  as  quickly  as  possible,  men  without  occupation  re- 
gret as  the  happiest  of  their  existence.  To  a  child  who 
has  been  promised  that  he  shall  put  on  manly  apparel 
on  his  next  birthday,  the  pace  of  time  is  slow  and 
heavy  until  that  happy  era  arrive.  Fix  the  day  when  a 
boy  shall  leave  school,  and  he  wishes  instantly  to  mount 
the  chariot,  and  lash  the  horses  of  the  sun.  Nor  when 
he  enters  the  world,  will  his  restless  spirit  be  satisfied ; 
the  first  step  gained,  he  looks  anxiously  forward  to  the 
height  of  manly  elevation, 

"  And  the  brisk  minor  pants  for  twenty-one." 

These  juvenile  anticipations  diminish  the  real  happi- 
ness of  life ;  those  who  are  in  continual  expectation, 
never  enjoy  the  present;  the  habit  of  expectation  is 
dangerous  to  the  mind — it  suspends  all  industry,  all  vol- 
untary exertion.  Young  men  who  early  acquire  this 
habit,  find  existence  insipid  to  them  without  the  imme- 
diate stimuli  of  hope  and  fear :  no  matter  what  the  object 
is,  they  must  have  something  to  sigh  for  ;  a  curricle,  a 
cockade,  or  an  opera-dancer. 

Much  may  be  done  by  education  to  prevent  this  boy- 
ish restlessness.  Parents  should  refrain  from  those  im- 
prudent promises  and  slight  innuendoes  which  the  youth- 
ful imagination  always  misunderstands  and  exaggerates. 
Never  let  the  moment  in  which  a  young  man  quits  a 
seminary  of  education,  be  represented  as  a  moment  in 
which  all  instruction,  labour,  and  restraints  cease.  The 


PUBLIC    AND    PRIVATE    EDUCATION.  373 

idea  that  he  must  restrain  and  instruct  himself,  that  he 
must  complete  his  own  education,  should  be  excited  in 
a  young  man's  mind ;  nor  should  he  be  suffered  to  ima- 
gine that  his  education  is  finished,  because  he  has  at- 
tained to  some  given  age. 

When  a  common  schoolboy  bids  adieu  to  that  school 
which  he  has  been  taught  to  consider  as  a  prison,  he  ex- 
ults in  his  escape  from  books  and  masters,  and  from  all 
the  moral  and  intellectual  discipline  to  which  he  ima- 
gines that  it  is  the  peculiar  disgrace  and  misery  of  child- 
hood to  be  condemned.  He  is  impatient  to  be  thought 
a  man,  but  his  ideas  of  the  manly  character  are  errone- 
ous— consequently  his  ambition  will  only  mislead  him. 
From  his  companions  while  at  school,  from  his  father's 
acquaintance  and  his  father's  servants,  with  whom  he 
has  been  suffered  to  consort  during  the  vacations,  he 
has  collected  imperfect  notions  of  life,  fashion,  and  so- 
ciety. These  do  not  mix  well  in  his  mind  with  the  ex- 
amples and  precepts  of  Greek  and  Roman  virtue :  a 
temporary  enthusiasm  may  have  been  kindled  in  his 
soul  by  the  eloquence  of  antiquity;  but,  for  want  of 
sympathy,  this  enthusiasm  necessarily  dies  away.  His 
heroes  are  not  the  heroes  of  the  present  times ;  the 
maxims  of  his  sages  are  not  easily  introduced  into  the 
conversation  of  the  day.  At  the  tea-table  he  now  sel- 
dom hears  even  the  name  of  Plato ;  and  he  often  blushes 
for  not  knowing  a  line  from  a  popular  English  poet,  while 
he  could  repeat  a  cento  from  Horace,  Virgil,  and  Homer  ; 
or  an  antistrophe  from  ^Eschylus  or  Euripides.  He 
feels  ashamed  to  produce  the  knowledge  he  has  acquired, 
because  he  has  not  learned  sufficient  address  to  produce 
it  without  pedantry.  On  his  entrance  into  the  world, 
there  remains  in  his  mind  no  grateful,  no  affectionate, 
no  respectful  remembrance  of  those  under  whose  care 
he  has  passed  so  many  years  of  his  life.  He  has  es- 
caped from  the  restraints  imposed  by  his  schoolmaster, 
and  the  connexion  is  dissolved  for  ever. 

But  when  a  son  separates  from  his  father,  if  he  has 
been  well  educated,  he  wishes  to  continue  his  own  edu- 
cation :  the  course  of  his  ideas  is  not  suddenly  broken  ; 
what  he  has  been,  joins  immediately  with  what  he  is  to 
be ;  his  knowledge  applies  to  real  life — it  is  such  as  he 
can  use  in  all  companies  ;  there  is  no  sudden  metamor- 
phosis in  any  of  the  objects  of  his  ambition  ;  the  boy  and 
man  are  the  same  individual.  Pleasure  will  not  influ- 
39 


374  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

ence  him  merely  by  her  name,  or  by  the  contrast  of  her 
appearance  with  the  rigid  discipline  of  scholastic  learn- 
ing ;  he  will  feel  the  difference  between  pleasure  and 
happiness,  and  his  early  taste  for  domestic  life  will  re- 
main or  return  upon  his  mind.  His  old  precepts  and 
new  motives  are  not  at  war  with  each  other  ;  his  expe- 
rience will  confirm  his  education,  and  external  circum- 
stances will  call  forth  his  latent  virtues.  When  he  looks 
back,  he  can  trace  the  gradual  growth  of  his  knowledge  ; 
when  he  looks  forward,  it  is  with  the  delightful  hope  of 
progressive  improvement.  A  desire  in  some  degree  to 
repay  the  care,  to  deserve  the  esteem,  to  fulfil  the  ani- 
mating prophecies,  or  to  justify  the  fond  hopes  of  the 
parent  who  has  watched  over  his  education,  is  one  of 
the  strongest  motives  to  an  ingenuous  young  man ;  it  is 
an  incentive  to  exertion  in  every  honourable  pursuit.  A 
son  who  has  been  judiciously  and  kindly  educated,  will 
feel  the  value  of  his  father's  friendship.  The  percep- 
tion that  no  man  can  be  more  entirely  interested  in 
every  thing  that  concerns  him,  the  idea  that  no  one  more 
than  his  father  can  share  in  his  glory  or  in  his  disgrace, 
will  press  upon  his  heart,  will  rest  upon  his  understand- 
ing. Upon  these  ideas,  upon  this  common  family  inter- 
est, the  real  strength  of  the  connexion  between  a  father 
and  his  son  depends.  No  public  preceptor  can  have  the 
same  advantages ;  his  connexion  with  his  pupil  is  not 
necessarily  formed  to  last. 

After  having  spoken  with  freedom,  but  we  hope  with 
moderation,  of  public  schools,  we  may,  perhaps,  be  asked 
our  opinion  of  universities.  Are  universities  the  most 
splendid  repositories  of  learning  1  We  are  not  afraid  to 
declare  an  opinion  in  the  negative.  Smith,  in  his  Wealth 
of  Nations,  has  stated  some  objections  to  them,  we 
think,  with  unanswerable  force  of  reasoning.  We  do 
not,  however,  wish  to  destroy  what  we  do  riot  entirely 
approve.  Far  be  that  insanity  from  our  minds  which 
would,  like  Orlando,  tear  up  the  academic  groves  ;  the 
madness  of  innovation  is  as  destructive  as  the  bigotry 
of  ancient  establishments.  The  learning  and  the  views 
of  the  rising  century  must  have  different  objects  from 
those  of  the  wisdom  and  benevolence  of  Alfred,  Bal- 
sham,  or  Wolsey;  and,  without  depreciating  or  de- 
stroying the  magnificence  or  establishments  of  univer- 
sities, may  not  their  institutions  be  improved  ?  May 
not  their  splendid  halls  echo  with  other  sounds  than  the 


PUBLIC    ..ND     PRIVATE     EDUCATION.  375 

exploded  metaphysics  of  the  schools?  And  may  not 
other  learning  be  as  much  rewarded  and  esteemed  as 
pure  latinity  ? 

We  must  here  distinctly  point  out,  that  young  men 
designed  for  the  army  or  the  navy,  should  not  be  edu- 
cated in  private  families.  The  domestic  habits,  the 
learned  leisure  of  private  education,  are  unsuited  to 
them  ;  it  would  be  absurd  to  waste  many  years  in  teach- 
ing them  the  elegances  of  classic  literature,  which  can 
probably  be  of  no  essential  use  to  them ;  it  would  be 
cruel  to  give  them  a  nice  and  refined  choice  of  right  and 
wrong,  when  it  will  be  their  professional  duty  to  act 
under  the  command  of  others;  when  implicit,  prompt, 
unquestioning  obedience,  must  be  their  first  military  vir- 
tue. Military  academies,  where  the  sciences  practically 
essential  to  the  professions  are  taught,  must  be  the  best 
situations  for  all  young  sailors  and  soldiers ;  strict  in- 
stitution is  the  best  education  for  them.  We  do  not 
here  inquire  how  far  these  professions  are  necessary  in 
society ;  it  is  obvious,  that  in  the  present  state  of  Eu- 
ropean cultivation,  soldiers  and  sailors  are  indispensa- 
ble to  every  nation.  We  hope,  however,  that  a  taste 
for  peace  may,  at  some  future  period  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  succeed  to  the  passion  for  military  glory ; 
and  in  the  meantime  we  may  safely  recommend  it  to 
parents,  never  to  trust  a  young  man  designed  for  a  sol- 
dier to  the  care  of  a  philosopher,  even  if  it  were  possi- 
ble to  find  one  who  would  undertake  the  charge. 

We  hope  that  we  have  shown  ourselves  the  friends 
of  the  public  preceptor,  that  we  have  pointed  out  the 
practicable  means  of  improving  public  institutions,  by 
parental  care  and  parental  co-operation.  But,  until  such 
a  meliorating  plan  shall  actually  have  been  carried  into 
effect,  we  cannot  hesitate  to  assert,  that  even  when  the 
abilities  of  the  parent  are  inferior  to  those  of  the  public 
preceptor,  the  means  of  ensuring  success  preponderate 
in  favour  of  private  education.  A  father  who  has  time, 
talents,  and  temper,  to  educate  his  family,  is  certainly 
the  best  possible  preceptor ;  and  his  reward  will  be  the 
highest  degree  of  domestic  felicity.  If,  from  his  situa- 
tion, he  is  obliged  to  forego  this  reward,  he  may  select 
some  man  of  literature,  sense,  and  integrity,  to  whom 
he  can  confide  his  children.  Opulent  families  should 
not  think  any  reward  too  munificent  for  such  a  private 
preceptor.  Even  in  an  economic  point  of  view,  it  is 


•  - 

376  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

prudent  to  calculate  how  many  thousands  lavished  on 
the  turf,  or  lost  at  the  gaming-table,  might  have  been 
saved  to  the  heirs  of  noble  and  wealthy  families  by  a 
judicious  education. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

ON    FEMALE  ACCOMPLISHMENTS,  MASTERS,  AND   GOVERNESSES. 

SOME  years  ago,  an  opera-dancer  at  Lyons,  whose 
charms  were  upon  the  wane,  applied  to  an  English  gen- 
tleman for  a  recommendation  to  some  of  his  friends  in 
England,  as  a  governess  for  young  ladies.  "  Do  you 
doubt,"  said  the  lady  (observing  that  the  gentleman  was 
somewhat  confounded  by  the  easy  assurance  of  her  re- 
quest), "  do  you  doubt  my  capability  ?  Do  I  not  speak 
good  Parisian  French  ?  Have  I  any  provincial  accent  1 
I  will  undertake  to  teach  the  language  grammatically. 
And  for  music  and  dancing,  without  vanity,  may  I  not 
pretend  to  teach  them  to  any  young  person  1"  The 
lady's  excellence  in  all  these  particulars  was  unques- 
tionable. She  was  beyond  dispute  a  highly  accom- 
plished woman.  Pressed  by  her  forcible  interrogato- 
ries, the  gentleman  was  compelled  to  hint,  that  an  Eng- 
lish mother  of  a  family  might  be  inconveniently  inquisi- 
tive about  the  private  history  of  a  person  who  was  to 
educate  her  daughters.  "  Oh,"  said  the  lady,  "  I  can 
change  my  name,  and,  at  my  age,  nobody  will  make 
farther  inquiries." 

Before  we  can  determine  how  far  this  lady's  preten- 
sions were  ill-founded,  and  before  we  can  exactly  de- 
cide what  qualifications  are  most  desirable  in  a  govern- 
ess, we  must  form  some  estimate  of  the  positive  and 
relative  value  of  what  are  called  accomplishments. 

We  are  not  going  to  attack  any  of  them  with  cynical 
asperity,  or  with  the  ambition  to  establish  any  new  dog- 
matical tenets  in  the  place  of  old  received  opinions.  It 
can,  however,  do  no  harm  to  discuss  this  important  sub- 
ject  with  proper  reverence  and  humility.  Without 
alarming  those  mothers  who  declare  themselves  above 
all  things  anxious  for  the  rapid  progress  of  their  daugh- 
ters in  every  fashionable  accomplishment,  it  may  bo 


FEMALE    ACCOMPLISHMENTS,    ETC.  377 

innocently  asked,  what  price  such  mothers  are  willing 
to  pay  for  these  advantages.  Any  price  within  the  limits 
of  our  fortune  !  they  will  probably  exclaim. 

There  are  other  standards  by  which  we  can  measure 
the  value  of  objects,  as  well  as  by  money.  "  Fond 
mother,  would  you,  if  it  were  in  your  power,  accept  of 
an  opera-dancer  for  your  daughter's  governess,  upon 
condition  that  you  should  live  to  see  that  daughter 
dance  the  best  minuet  at  a  birthnight  ball  V 

"  Not  for  the  world,"  replies  the  mother.  "  Do  you 
think  I  would  hazard  my  daughter's  innocence  and  repu- 
tation, for  the  sake  of  seeing  her  dance  a  good  minuet  1 
Shocking !  Absurd  !  What  can  you  mean  by  such  an 
outrageous  question  ]" 

"  To  fix  your  attention.  Where  the  mind  has  not  pre- 
cisely ascertained  its  wishes,  it  is  sometimes  useful  to 
consider  extremes ;  by  determining  what  price  you  will 
not  pay,  we  shall  at  length  ascertain  the  value  which 
you  set  upon  the  object.  Reputation  and  innocence, 
you  say,  you  will  not,  upon  any  account,  hazard.  But 
would  you  consent  that  your  daughter  should,  by  uni- 
versal acclamation,  be  proclaimed  the  most  accom- 
plished woman  in  Europe,  upon  the  simple  condition 
that  she  should  pass  her  days  in  a  nunnery  1" 

"  I  should  have  no  right  to  make  such  a  condition ; 
domestic  happiness  I  ought  certainly  to  prefer  to  public 
admiration  for  my  daughter.  Her  accomplishments 
would  be  of  little  use  to  her,  if  she  were  to  be  shut  up 
from  the  world :  who  is  to  be  the  judge  of  them  in  a 
nunnery  V 

"  I  will  say  no  more  about  the  nunnery.  But  would 
not  you,  as  a  good  mother,  consent  to  have  your  daugh- 
ter turned  into  an  automaton  for  eight  hours  in  every 
day  for  fifteen  years,  for  the  promise  of  hearing  her,  at 
the  end  of  that  time,  pronounced  the  first  private  per- 
former at  the  most  fashionable  and  most  crowded  con- 
cert in  London  ?" 

"  Eight  hours  a  day  for  fifteen  years  are  too  much. 
No  one  need  practise  so  much  to  become  the  first  per- 
former in  England." 

"  That  is  another  question.  You  have  not  told  me 
whether  you  would  sacrifice  so  much  of  your  daughter's 
existence  for  such  an  object,  supposing  that  you  could 
obtain  it  at  no  other  price."  - 

14  For  one  concert  1"  says  the  hesitating  mother ;  "  I 


378  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

think  it  would  be  too  high  a  price.  Yet  I  would  give 
any  thing  to  have  my  daughter  play  better  than  any  one 
in  England.  What  a  distinction !  She  would  be  imme- 
diately taken  notice  of  in  all  companies  !  She  might 
get  into  the  first  circles  in  London !  She  would  want 
neither  beauty  nor  fortune  to  recommend  her!  She 
would  be  a  match  for  any  man  who  has  any  taste  for 
music!  And  music  is  universally  admired,  even  by 
those  who  have  the  misfortune  to  have  no  taste  for  it. 
Besides,  it  is  such  an  elegant  accomplishment  in  itself! 
Such  a  constant  source  of  innocent  amusement !  Put- 
ting every  thing  else  out  of  the  question,  I  should  wish 
my  daughter  to  have  every  possible  accomplishment, 
because  accomplishments  are  such  charming  resources 
for  young  women ;  they  keep  them  out  of  harm's  way ; 
they  make  a  vast  deal  of  their  idle  time  pass  so  pleas- 
antly to  themselves  and  others ;  this  is  my  chief  reason 
for  liking  them^^ 

Here  are  so  many  reasons  brought  together  at  once, 
along  with  the  chief  reason,  that  they  are  altogether 
unanswerable :  we  must  separate,  class,  and  consider 
them  one  at  a  time.  Accomplishments,  it  seems,  are 
valuable,  as  being  the  objects  of  universal  admiration. 
Some  accomplishments  have  another  species  of  value, 
as  they  are  tickets  of  admission  to  fashionable  com- 
pany. Accomplishments  have  another,  and  a  higher 
species  of  value,  as  they  are  supposed  to  increase  a 
young  lady's  chance  of  a  prize  in  the  matrimonial  lot- 
tery. Accomplishments  have  also  a  value  as  resources 
against  ennui,  as  they  afford  continual  amusement  and 
innocent  occupation.  This  is  ostensibly  their  chief 
praise  ;  it  deserves  to  be  considered  with  respect. 
False  and  odious  must  be  that  philosophy  which  would 
destroy  any  one  of  the  innocent  pleasures  of  our  exist- 
ence. No  reward  was  thought  too  high  for  the  inven- 
tion of  a  new  pleasure  ;  no  punishment  would  be  thought 
too  severe  for  those  who  would  destroy  an  old  one. 
Women  are  peculiarly  restrained  in  their  situation  and 
in  their  employments,  by  the  customs  of  society:  to 
diminish  the  number  of  these  employments,  therefore, 
would  be  cruel ;  they  should  rather  be  encouraged,  by 
all  means,  to  cultivate  those  tastes  which  can  attach 
them  to  their  home,  and  which  can  preserve  them  from 
the  miseries  of  dissipation.  Every  sedentary  occupa- 
tion must  be  valuable  to  those  who  are  to  lead  sedentary 


FEMALE    ACCOMPLISHMENTS,    ETC.  379 

lives ;  and  every  art,  however  trifling1  in  itself,  which 
tends  to  enliven  and  embellish  domestic  life,  must  be 
advantageous,  not  only  to  the  female  sex,  but  to  society 
in  general.  As  far  as  accomplishments  can  contribute 
to  all  or  any  of  these  excellent  purposes,  they  must  be 
just  objects  of  attention  in  early  education. 

A  number  of  experiments  have  already  been  tried ; 
let  us  examine  the  result.  Out  of  the  prodigious  num- 
ber of  young  women  who  learn  music  and  drawing,  for 
instance,  how  many  are  there,  who,  after  they  become 
mistresses  of  their  own  time,  and  after  they  have  the 
choice  of  their  own  amusements,  continue  to  practise 
these  accomplishments  for  the  pure  pleasure  of  occupa- 
tion ?  As  soon  as  a  young  lady  is  married,  does  she 
not  frequently  discover  that  "  she  really  has  not  leisure 
to  cultivate  talents  which  take  up  so  much  time  ?"  Does 
she  not  complain  of  the  labour  of  practising  four  or  five 
hours  a  day  to  keep  up  her  musical  character  ?  What 
motive  has  she  for  perseverance  ?  She  is,  perhaps,  al- 
ready tired  of  playing  to  all  her  acquaintance.  She 
may  really  take  pleasure  in  hearing  good  music ;  but 
her  own  performance  will  not  then  please  her  ear  so 
much  as  that  of  many  others.  She  will  prefer  the  more 
indolent  pleasure  of  hearing  the  best  music  that  can  be 
heard  for  money  at  public  concerts.  She  will  then  of 
course  leave  off  playing,  but  continue  very  fond  of  music. 
How  often  is  the  labour  of  years  thus  lost  for  ever  ! 

Those  who  have  excelled  in  drawing  do  not  appear 
to  abandon  the  occupation  so  suddenly  ;  it  does  not  de- 
mand such  an  inordinate  quantity  of  time  to  keep  up 
the  talent ;  the  exertion  of  the  imitative  powers  with 
apparent  success,  is  agreeable ;  the  employment  is  pro- 
gressive, and  therefore  the  mind  is  carried  on  to  com- 
plete what  has  been  begun.  Independently  of  all  ap- 
plause which  may  be  expected  for  the  performance, 
there  is  a  pleasure  in  going  on  with  the  work.  But 
setting  aside  enthusiasm  and  habit,  the  probability  that 
any  sensible  persons  will  continue  to  pursue  a  given 
employment,  must  depend,  in  a  great  measure,  upon 
their  own  conviction  of  its  utility,  or  of  its  being  agree- 
able to  those  whom  they  wish  to  please.  The  pleasure 
which  a  lady's  friends  receive  from  her  drawings,  arises 
chiefly  from  the  perception  of  their  comparative  excel- 
lence. Comparative  excellence  is  all  to  which  gentle- 
women artists  usually  pretend  all  to  which  they  expect 


380  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

to  attain;  positive  excellence  is  scarcely  attained  by 
one  in  a  hundred.  Compared  with  the  performances 
of  other  young  ladies  of  their  acquaintance,  the  draw- 
ings of  Miss  X  or  Y  may  be  justly  considered  as  charm- 
ing !  admirable  !  and  astonishing !  But  there  are  few 
drawings  by  young  ladies  which  can  be  compared  with 
those  of  a  professed  artist.  The  wishes  of  obliging 
friends  are  satisfied  with  a  few  drawings  in  handsome 
frames,  to  be  hung  up  for  the  young  lady's  credit ;  and 
when  it  is  allowed  among  their  acquaintance  that  she 
draws*in  a  superior  style,  the  purpose  of  this  part  of  her 
education  is  satisfactorily  answered.  We  do  not  hero 
speak  of  those  few  individuals  who  really  excel  in  draw 
ing,  who  have  learned  something  more  than  the  com- 
mon routine  which  is  usually  learned  from  a  drawing- 
master,  who  have  acquired  an  agreeable  talent,  not  for 
the  mere  purpose  of  exhibiting  themselves,  but  for  the 
sake  of  the  occupation  it  affords,  and  the  pleasure  it 
may  give  to  their  friends.  We  have  the  pleasure  of 
knowing  some  who  exactly  answer  to  this  description, 
and  who  must  feel  themselves  distinct  and  honourable 
exceptions  to  these  general  observations. 

From  whatever  cause  it  arises,  we  may  observe,  that 
after  young  women  are  settled  in  life,  their  taste  for 
drawing  and  music  gradually  declines.  For  this  fact, 
we  can  appeal  only  to  the  recollection  of  individuals. 
We  may  hence  form  some  estimate  of  the  real  value 
which  ought  to  be  put  upon  what  are  called  accomplish- 
ments, considered  as  occupations.  Hence  we  may  also 
conclude,  that  parents  do  not  form  their  judgments 
from  the  facts  which  they  see  every  day  in  real  life ; 
or  else  may  we  not  infer,  that  they  deceive  themselves 
as  to  their  own  motives ;  and  that,  among  the  reasons 
which  make  them  so  anxious  about  the  accomplish- 
ments of  their  daughters,  there  are  some  secret  motives 
more  powerful  than  those  which  are  usually  openly 
acknowledged  1 

It  is  admitted  in  the  cabinet  council  of  mothers,  that 
some  share  of  the  value  of  accomplishments  depends 
upon  the  demand  for  them  in  the  fashionable  world. 
"  A  young  lady,"  they  say,  "  is  nobody,  and  nothing, 

without  accomplishments  ;  they  are  as  necessary  to  her 
a  fortune  :  they  are  indeed  considered  as  part  of  her 
'fortune,  and  sometimes  are  even  found  to  supply  the 

lace  of  it.    Next  to  beauty,  they  are  the  best  tickets 


FEMALE    ACCOMPLISHMENTS,     ETC.  381 

>f  admission  into  society  which  she  can  produce ;  and 

everybody  knows,  that  on  the  company  she  keeps  de- 
pends the  chance  of  a  young  woman's  settling  advan- 

igeously  in  the  world." 
To  judge  of  what  will  please  and  attach  men  of 
superior  sense  and  characters — we  are  not  quite  cer- 
tain that  these  are  the  men  who  are  to  be  considered 
first,  when  we  speak  of  a  young  lady's  settling  advan- 
tageously in  the  world  ;  but  we  will  take  this  for  granted 
— to  judge  of  what  will  please  and  attach  men  of  supe- 
rior sense  and  characters,  we  must  observe  their  actual 
conduct  in  life,  and  listen  to  their  speculative  opinions. 
Superficial  accomplishments  do  not  appear  to  be  the 
objects  of  their  preference.  In  enumerating  the  per- 
fections of  his  wife,  or  in  retracing  the  progress  of  his 
love,  does  a  man  of  sense  dwell  upon  his  mistress's 
skill  in  drawing,  or  dancing,  or  music  ?  No.  These, 
he  tells  you,  are  extremely  agreeable  talents,  but  they 
could  never  have  attached  him  ;  they  are  subordinate 
parts  in  her  character ;  he  is  angry  that  you  can  rank 
them  among  her  perfections  ;  he  knows  that  a  thousand 
women  possess  these  accomplishments,  who  have  never 
touched  his  heart.  He  does  not,  perhaps,  deny,  that  in 
Chloe,  altogether,  they  have  power  to  please,  but  he 
does  not  think  them  essential  to  her  power. 

The  opinion  of  women  who  have  seen  a  good  deal 
of  the  world,  is  worth  attending  to  upon  this  subject ; 
especially  if  we  can  obtain  it  when  their  passions  are 
wholly  uninterested  in  their  decision.  Whatever  may 
be  the  judgment  of  individuals  concerning  the  character 
and  politics  of  the  celebrated  Madame  Roland,  her  opin- 
ion as  a  woman  of  abilities,  and  a  woman  who  had  seen 
a  variety  of  life,  will  be  thought  deserving  of  attention. 
Her  book  was  written  at  a  time  when  she  was  in  daily 
expectation  of  death,  when  she  could  have  no  motive 
to  conceal  her  real  sentiments  upon  any  subject.  She 
gives  an  account  of  her  employments  in  prison,  and, 
among  others,  mentions  music  and  drawing. 

"  I  then  employed  myself  in  drawing  till  dinner  time. 
I  had  so  long  been  out  of  the  habit  of  using  a  pencil, 
that  I  could  not  expect  to  be  very  dexterous  ;  but  we 
commonly  retain  the  power  of  repeating  with  pleasure, 
or  at  least  of  attempting  with  ease,  whatever  we  have 
successfully  practised  in  our  youth.  Therefore  the 
study  of  the  fine  arts,  considered  as  a  part  of  female 


382  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

education,  should  be  attended  to,  much  less  with  a  view 
to  the  acquisition  of  superior  talents,  than  with  a  desire 
to  give  women  a  taste  for  industry,  the  habit  of  applica- 
tion, and  a  greater  variety  of  employments  ;  for  these 
assist  us  to  escape  from  ennui,  the  most  cruel  disease 
of  civilized  society ;  by  these  we  are  preserved  from 
the  dangers  of  vice,  and  even  from  those  seductions 
which  are  far  more  likely  to  lead  us  astray. 

"  I  would  not  make  my  daughter  a  performer.*     I  re- 
member that  my  mother  was  afraid  that  I  should  be. 
come  a  great  musician,  or  that  I  should  devote  myself 
/•"^entirely  to  painting :  she  wished  that  I  should,  above 
Vail  other  things,  love  the  duties  of  my  sex :  that  I  should 
ybe  a  good  economist,  a  good  mistress,  as  well  as  a  good 
/  mother  of  a  family.     I  wish  my  Eudora  to  be  able  to 
v-accompany  her  voice  agreeably  on  the  harp.     I  wish 
that  she  may  play  agreeably  on  the  piano-forte  ;  that 
she  may  know  enough  of  drawing,  to  feel  pleasure  from 
the  sight  and  from  the  examination  of  the  finest  pictures 
of  the  great  painters ;  that  she  may  be  able  to  draw  a 
flower  that  happens  to  please  her ;  and  that  she  may 
unite  in  her  dress  elegance  and  simplicity.     I  should 
wish  that  her  talents  might  be  such  that  they  should 
neither  excite  the  admiration  of  others,  nor  inspire  her 
with  vanity  ;  I  should  wish  that  she  should  please  by 
the  general  effect  of  her  whole  character,  without  ever 
striking  anybody  with  astonishment  at  first  sight ;  and 
v       that  she  should  attach  by  her  good  qualities,  rather  than 
shine  by  her  accomplishments." 

Women  cannot  foresee  what  may  be  the  tastes  of 
the  individuals  with  whom  they  are  to  pass  their  lives. 
Their  own  tastes  should  not,  therefore,  be  early  de- 
cided ;  they  should,  if  possible,  be  so  educated  that  they 
may  attain  any  talent  in  perfection  which  they  may 
desire,  or  which  their  circumstances  may  render  ne- 
cessary. If,  for  instance,  a  woman  were  to  marry  a 
man  who  was  fond  of  music,  or  who  admired  painting, 
she  should  be  able  to  cultivate  these  talents  for  his 
amusement  and  her  own.  If  he  be  a  man  of  sense  and 
feeling,  he  will  be  more  pleased  with  the  motive  than 
with  the  thing  that  is  actually  done.  But  if  it  be  urged 
that  all  women  cannot  expect  to  marry  men  of  sense 
and  feeling ;  and  if  we  are  told,  that  nevertheless  they 

*  Une  Virtuose. 


FEMALE    ACCOMPLISHMENTS,    ETC.  383 

must  look  to  "  an  advantageous  establishment,"  we 
must  conclude,  that  men  of  rank  and  fortune  are  meant 
by  that  comprehensive  phrase.  Another  set  of  argu- 
ments must  be  used  to  those  who  speculate  on  their 
daughters'  accomplishments  in  this  line.  They  have, 
perhaps,  seen  some  instances  of  what  they  call  success ; 
they  have  seen  some  young  women  of  their  acquaint- 
ance, whose  accomplishments  have  attracted  men  of 
fortune  superior  to  their  own ;  consequently,  maternal 
tenderness  is  awakened,  and  many  mothers  are  sanguine 
in  their  expectations  of  the  effect  of  their  daughters' 
education.  But  they  forget  that  everybody  now  makes 
the  same  reflections,  that  parents  are,  and  have  been 
for  some  years  speculating  in  the  same  line  ;  conse- 
quently, the  market  is  likely  to  be  overstocked,  and,  of 
course,  the  value  of  the  commodities  must  fall.  Every 
young  lady  (and  every  young  woman  is  now  a  youm 
lady)  has  some  pretensions  to  accomplishments.  Sne 
draws  a  little,  or  she  plays  a  little,  or  she  speaks  French 
a  little.  Even  the  blue-board  boardingschools,  ridiculed/ 
by  Miss  Allscript  in  the  Heiress,  profess  to  perfect' 
young  ladies  in  some  or  all  of  these  necessary  parts  of 
education.  Stop  at  any  good  inn  on  the  London  roads, 
and  you  will  probably  find  that  the  landlady's  daughter 
can  show  you  some  of  her  own  framed  drawings,  can 
play  a  tune  upon  her  spinet,  or  support  a  dialogue  iff 
French  of  a  reasonable  length,  in  the  customary  ques- 
tions and  answers.  Now  it  is  the  practice  in  high  life 
to  undervalue,  and  avoid  as  much  as  possible,  every 
thing  which  descends  to  the  inferior  classes  of  society. 
The  dress  of  to-day  is  unfashionable  to-morrow,  be- 
cause everybody  wears  it.  The  dress  is  not  preferred 
because  it  is  pretty  or  useful,  but  because  it  is  the  dis- 
tinction of  wellbred  people.  In  the  same  manner,  ac- 
complishments have  lost  much  of  that  value  which  they 
acquired  from  opinion,  since  they  have  become  com- 
mon. They  are  now  so  common,  that  they  cannot  be 
considered  as  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  even 
a  gentlewoman's  education.  The  higher  classes  in  life, 
and  those  individuals  who  aim  at  distinction,  now  estab- 
lish another  species  of  monopoly,  and  secure  to  them- 
selves a  certain  set  of  expensive  masters  in  music,  draw- 
ing, dancing,  &c.  ;  and  they  endeavour  to  believe,  and 
to  make  others  believe,  that  no  one  can  be  well  edu- 
cated without  having  served  an  apprenticeship  of  so 


384  PKAOTICAL    EDUCATION. 

many  lessons  under  some  of  these  privileged  masters. 
But  it  is  in  vain  that  they  intrench  themselves,  they  are 
pursued  by  the  intrusive  vulgar.  In  a  wealthy,  mer- 
cantLe  nation,  there  is  nothing  which  can  be  bought  for 
money,  which  will  long  continue  to  be  an  envied  dis- 
tinction. The  hope  of  attaining  that  degree  of  eminence 
in  the  fine  arts  which  really  deserves  celebrity,  becomes 
every  day  more  difficult  to  private  practitioners,  be- 
cause the  number  of  competitors  daily  increases ;  and 
it  is  the  interest  of  masters  to  forward  their  pupils  by 
every  possible  means.  Both  genius  and  perseverance 
must  now  be  united  to  obtain  the  prize  of  distinction ; 
and  how  seldom  are  they  found,  or  kept  together,  in  the 
common  course  of  education  ! 

Considering  all  these  circumstances,  is  there  not 
some  reason  to  apprehend,  that  in  a  few  years  the  taste 
for  several  fashionable  appendages  of  female  education 
may  change,  and  that  those  will  consequently  be  treated 
with  neglect  who  have  no  other  claim  to  public  regard 
than  their  proficiency  in  what  may,  perhaps,  then  be 
thought  vulgar  or  obsolete  accomplishments "?  Our 
great-grandmothers  distinguished  themselves  by  truly 
substantial  tent-work  chairs  and  carpets,  by  needle- 
work pictures  of  Solomon  and  the  queen  of  Sheba. 
These  were  admirable  in  their  day,  but  their  day  is 
over;  and  these  useful,  ingenious,  and  laborious  speci- 
mens of  female  talents,  are  consigned  to  the  garret,  or 
they  are  produced  but  as  curiosities,  to  excite  wonder 
at  the  strange  patience  and  miserable  destiny  of  former 
generations;  the  taste  for  tapestry  and  embroidery  is 
thus  past ;  the  long  labours  of  the  loom  have  ceased. 
Cloth-work,  crape-work,  chenille-work,  riband-work, 
wafer- work,  with  a  long  train  of  etceteras,  have  all  passed 
away  in  our  own  memory ;  yet  these  conferred  much 
evanescent  fame,  and  a  proportional  quantity  of  vain  emu- 
lation. A  taste  for  drawing  or  music  cannot  be  classed 
with  any  of  these  trifling  performances ;  but  there  are 
many  faded  drawings  of  the  present  generations,  which 
cannot  stand  in  competition  with  the  glowing  and  faithful 
colours  of  the  silk  and  worsted  of  former  times ;  and 
many  of  the  hours  spent  at  a  stammering  harpsichord, 
might  surely,  with  full  as  much  domestic  advantage,  have 
been  devoted  to  the  embellishment  of  chairs  and  carpets. 
We  hope  that  no  one  will  so  perversely  misunderstand 
us,  as  to  infer  from  these  remarks  that  we  desire  to  see  the 


FEMALE    ACCOMPLISHMENTS,    ETC.  385 


revival  of  old  tapestry -work  ;  or  that  we  condemn  the 
elegant  accomplishments  of  music  and  drawing.  We 
condemn  only  the  abuse  of  these  accomplishments  ;  we 
only  wish  that  they  should  be  considered  as  domestic  oc- 
cupations, not  as  matters  of  competition  or  of  exhibition, 
nor  yet  as  the  means  of  attracting  temporary  admira- 
tion. We  are  not  afraid  that  any,  who  are  really  con- 
scipus  of  having  acquired  accomplishments  with  these 
prudent  and  honourable  views,  should  misapprehend 
what  has  been  said.  Mediocrity  may,  perhaps,  attempt 
to  misrepresent  our  remarks,  and  may  endeavour  to 
make  it  appear  that  we  have  attacked,  and  that  we 
would  discourage,  every  effort  of  female  taste  and  in- 
genuity in  the  fine  arts ;  we  cannot,  therefore,  be  too 
explicit  in  disclaiming  such  illiberal  views. 

We  have  not  yet  spoken  of  dancing,  though  it  is  one 
of  the  most  admired  of  female  accomplishments.  This 
evidently  is  an  amusement,  not  an  occupation ;  it  is  an 
greeable  exercise,  useful  to  the  health,  and  advanta- 
geous, as  it  confers  a  certain  degree  of  habitual  ease  and 
grace.  Mr.  Locke  seems  to  think,  that  it  gives  young 
people  confidence  in  themselves  when  they  come  into 
company,  and  that  it  is,  therefore,  expedient  to  teach 
children  early  to  dance  :  but  there  are  so  many  other 
methods  of  inspiring  young  people  with  this  confidence 
in  themselves,  that  it  appears  unnecessary  to  lay  much 
stress  upon  this  argument.  If  children  live  in  good  com- 
pany, and  see  constantly  people  with  agreeable  manners, 
they  will  acquire  manners  which  the  dancing-master  does 
not  always  teach  ;  and  they  will  easily  vary  their  forms 
of  politeness  with  the  fashion  of  the  day.  Nobody  comes 
into  a  room  regularly  as  the  dancing-master  taught  him 
to  make  his  entrance ;  we  should  think  a  strict  adhe- 
rence to  his  lessons  ridiculous  and  awkward  in  well- 
bred  company  ;  therefore  much  must  be  left  to  the  dis- 
cretion and  taste  of  the  pupil,  after  the  dancing-master 
has  made  his  last  bow.  Ease  of  manners  is  not  always 
attained  by  those  who  have  been  strictly  disciplined  by 
a  Vestris,  because  the  lessons  are  not  always  practised 
in  precisely  the  same  circumstances  in  which  they  were 
learned :  this  confuses  and  confounds  the  pupils,  and 
they  rather  lose  than  gain  confidence  in  themselves, 
from  perceiving  that  they  cannot  immediately  apply 
what  they  have  been  taught.  But  we  need  not  expati- 
ate upon  this  subject,  because  there  are  few  parents  of 
33 


386  PRACTICAL  KDHCATION. 


good  sense,  in  any  rank  of  life,  who  will  not  perceive 
that  their  daughters'  manners  cannot  be  formed  or  pol- 
ished by  a  dancing-master.  We  are  not  to  consider 
dancing  in  a  grave  and  moral  light ;  it  is  an  amusement 
much  more  agreeable  to  young  people,  and  much  better 
suited  to  them  in  every  respect,  than  cards,  or  silent 
assemblies  of  formal  visiters.  It  promotes  cheerfulness, 
and  prevents,  in  some  measure,  the  habits  of  gossiping 
conversation  and  the  love  of  scandal.  So  far  wfe  most 
willingly  agree  with  its  most  vivacious  advocates  in  its 
common  eulogium.  But  this  is  not,  we  fear,  saying 
enough.  We  see,  or  fancy  that  we  see,  the  sober  ma- 
tron lay  down  her  carefully  assorted  cards  upon  the 
card-table,  and  with  dictatorial  solemnity  she  pronoun- 
ces, "  That  dancing  is  something  more  than  an  amuse- 
ment ;  that  girls  must  learn  to  dance,  because  they 
must  appear  well  in  public  ;  because  the  young  ladies 
who  dance  the  best  are  usually  most  taken  notice  of  in 
public  ;  most  admired  by  the  other  sex  ;  most  likely,  in 
short,  not  only  to  have  their  choice  of  the  best  partner 
in  a  ball-room,  but  sometimes  of  the  best  partner  for 
life." 

With  submission  to  maternal  authority,  these  argu- 
ments do  not  seem  to  be  justified  of  late  years.  Girls 
who  dance  remarkably  well,  are,  it  is  true,  admired  in  a 
ball-room,  and  followed,  perhaps,  by  those  idle,  thought- 
less young  men,  who  frequent  public  places  merely  for 
the  want  of  something  else  to  do.  This  race  of  beings 
are  not  particularly  calculated  to  make  good  husbands  in 
any  sense  of  the  word ;  nor  are  they  usually  disposed 
to  think  of  marriage  in  any  other  light  than  as  the  last 
desperate  expedient  to  repair  their  injured  fortunes. 
They  set  their  wits  against  the  sex  in  general,  and  con- 
sider themselves  as  in  danger  of  being  jockeyed  into  the 
matrimonial  state.  Some  few,  perhaps,  who  have  not 
brought  their  imagination  sufficiently  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  calculating  faculty,  are  caught  by  beauty 
and  accomplishments,  and  many  against  the  common 
rules  of  interest.  These  men  are  considered  with  pity 
or  with  ridicule  by  their  companions,  as  dupes,  who 
have  suffered  themselves  to  be  taken  in :  others  are 
warned  by  their  fate  ;  and  the  future  probability  of  simi- 
lar errors,  of  course,  must  be  diminished.  The  fashion- 
able apathy,  whether  real  or  affected,  with  which  young 
men  lounge  in  public  places,  with  scarcely  the  appear- 


FEMALE    ACCOMI'UsHMKNTS,    ETC.  387 

ance  of  attention  to  the  fair  exhibiters  before  them, 
sufficiently  marks  the  temper  of  the  times  ;  and  if  the 
female  sex  have  lost  any  thing  of  the  respect  and  es- 
teem which  ought  to  be  paid  to  them  in  society,  they 
can  scarcely  expect  to  regain  their  proper  influence  by 
concessions  to  the  false  and  vitiated  taste  of  those  who 
combine  to  treat  them  with  neglect  bordering  upon  in- 
solence. If  the  system  of  female  education,  if  the  sys- 
tem of  female  manners,  conspire  to  show  in  the  fair  sex 
a  degrading  anxiety  to  attract  worthless  admiration, 
wealthy  or  titled  homage,  is  it  surprising  that  every 
young  man  who  has  any  pretensions  to  birth,  fortune, 
or  fashion,  should  consider  himself  as  the  arbiter  of 
their  fate,  and  the  despotic  judge  of  their  merit  ?  Wo- 
men who  understand  their  real  interests,  perceive  the 
causes  of  the  contempt  with  which  the  sex  is  treated 
by  fashionable  coxcombs,  and  they  feel  some  indigna- 
tion at  the  meanness  with  which  this  contempt,  tacitly 
or  openly  expressed,  is  endured.  Women  who  feel 
none  of  this  indignation,  and  who,  either  from  their 
education  or  their  circumstances,  are  only  solicitous  to 
obtain  present  amusement,  or  what  they  think  the  per- 
manent advantages  of  a  fortunate  alliance,  will  yet  find 
themselves  disappointed  by  persisting  in  their  thought- 
less career ;  they  will  not  gain  even  the  objects  to 
which  they  aspire.  How  many  accomplished  belles  run 
the  usual  round  of  dissipation  in  all  public  places  of 
exhibition,  tire  the  public  eye,  and,  after  a  season  or 
two,  fade  and  are  forgotten  !  How  many  accomplished 
belles  are  there,  who,  having  gained  the  object  of  their 
own  or  of  their  mothers'  ambition,  find  themselves 
doomed  to  misery  for  life  !  Those  unequal  marriages 
which  are  sometimes  called  excellent  matches,  seldom 
produce  much  happiness.  And  where  happiness  is  not, 
what  is  all  the  rest ! 

If  all  or  any  of  these  reflections  should  strike  the 
heart  and  Convince  the  understanding  of  an  anxious 
but  reasonable  mother,  she  will,  probably,  immediately 
determine  upon  her  own  conduct  in  the  education  of  her 
daughters  :  she  will  resolve  to  avoid  the  common  errors 
of  the  frivolous  or  the  interested ;  she  will  not  be  in- 
fluenced by  the  importunity  of  every  idle  acquaintance, 
who  may  talk  to  her  of  the  necessity  of  her  daughter's 
being  taken  notice  of  in  public,  of  the  chances  of  an 
advantageous  establishment,  of  the  good  fortune  of  Miss 
R2 


3813  nurncAL  KDUCATION. 

Y ,  or  Lady  Angelina  X -,  in  meeting  with  a  cox- 
comb or  a  spendthrift  for  a  husband ;  nor  will  she  be 
moved  with  maternal  emulation  when  she  is  farther 
told,  that  these  young  ladies  owed  their  success  entirely 
to  the  superiority  of  their  accomplishments :  she  will 
consider,  for  one  moment,  what  is  meant  by  the  word 
success ;  she  will,  perhaps,  not  be  of  opinion  that  "  'tis 
best  repenting  in  a  coach  and  six ;"  she  will,  perhaps, 
reflect,  that  even  the  "  soft  sounds"  of  titled  grandeur 
lose  their  power  to  please,  and  "  salute  the  ear"  almost 
unobserved.  The  happiness,  the  permanent  happiness 
of  her  child,  will  be  the  first,  the  last  object  of  the  good 
and  the  enlightened  mother :  to  this  all  her  views  and 
all  her  efforts  will  tend ;  and  to  this  she  will  make  every 
fashionable,  every  elegant  accomplishment  subservient. 
As  to  the  means  of  acquiring  these  accomplishments, 
it  would  be  absurd  and  presumptuous  to  present  here 
any  vague  precepts  or  tedious  details,  upon  the  mode 
of  learning  drawing,  dancing,  and  music.  These  can 
be  best  learned  from  the  masters  who  profess  to  teach 
them,  as  far  as  the  technical  part  is  necessary.  But 
success  will  not  ultimately  depend  upon  any  technical 
instructions  that  a  master  can  give :  he  may  direct  the 
efforts  of  industry  so  as  to  save  much  useless  labour ; 
he  may  prevent  his  pupils  from  acquiring  bad  practical 
habits ;  he  may  assist,  but  he  cannot  inspire  the  spirit 
of  perseverance.  A  master  who  is  not  expected,  or 
indeed  allowed,  to  interfere  in  the  general  education  of 
his  pupils,  can  only  diligently  attend  to  them  while  he 
is  giving  his  lessons  ;  he  has  not  any  power,  except  that 
pernicious  motive,  competition,  to  excite  them  to  excel ; 
his  instructions  cannot  be  peculiarly  adapted  to  their 
tempers  or  their  understandings,  because  with  these  he 
is  unacquainted..  Now  a  sensible  mother  has  it  in  her 
power  to  supply  all  these  deficiencies  ;  even  if  she  does 
not  herself  excel  in  any  of  the  accomplishments  which 
her  daughters  are  learning,  her  knowledge  of  their 
minds,  her  taste,  her  judgment,  her  affection,  her  super- 
intending intelligence,  will  be  of  inestimable  value  to 
her  children.  If  she  has  skill  in  any  accomplishment, 
she  will,  for  the  first  years  of  her  daughters'  lives,  be 
undoubtedly  the  best  person  to  instruct  them.  By  skill, 
we  do  not  mean  superior  talents,  or  proficiency  in  music 
or  drawing ;  without  these,  she  may  be  able  to  teach  all 
that  is  necessary  in  the  early  part  of  education.  One 


FEMALE    ACCOMPLISHMENTS,    F.TO.  389 

of  the  best  motives  which  a  woman  can  have  to  cultivate 
her  talents  after  she  marries,  is  the  hope  and  belief  that 
she  may  be  essentially  serviceable  in  the  instruction  of 
her  family.  And  that  she  may  be  essentially  service- 
able, let  no  false  humility  lead  her  to  doubt.  She  need 
not  be  anxious  for  the  rapid  progress  of  her  little  pupils ; 
she  need  not  be  terrified  if  she  see  their  equals  in  age 
surpass  them  under  what  she  thinks  more  able  tuition ; 
she  may  securely  satisfy  herself,  that  if  she  but  inspires 
her  children  with  a  desire  to  excel,  with  the  habits  of 
attention  and  industry,  they  will  certainly  succeed, 
sooner  or  later,  in  whatever  it  is  desirable  that  they 
should  learn.  The  exact  age  at  which  the  music, 
dancing,  and  drawing  masters  should  begin  their  in- 
structions, need  not  be  fixed.  If  a  mother  should  not  be 
so  situated  as  to  be  able  to  procure  the  best  masters  for 
her  daughters  while  they  are  yet  children,  she  need  not 
be  in  despair;  a  rapid  progress  is  made  in  a  short  time 
by  well-educated  young  people;  those  who  have  not 
acquired  any  bad  habits  are  easily  taught:  it  should, 
therefore,  seem  prudent,  if  the  best  masters  cannot  be 
procured  at  any  given  period  of  education,  rather  to 
wait  patiently,  than  to  hazard  their  first  impressions, 
and  the  first  habits  which  might  be  given  by  any  inferior 
technical  instruction.  It  is  said  that  the  celebrated 
musician  Timotheus,  whose  excellence  in  his  art  Alex- 
ander the  conqueror  of  the  world  was  forced  to  acknowl- 
edge, when  pupils  flocked  to  him  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  had  the  prudence  to  demand  double  entrance 
money  from  every  scholar  who  had  had  any  other  music- 
master. 

Besides  the  advantage  of  being  entirely  free  from 
other  bad  habits,  children  who  are  not  taught  by  inferior 
masters  will  not  contract  habits  of  listless  application. 
Under  the  eye  of  an  indolent  person,  children  seldom 
give  their  entire  attention  to  what  they  are  about. 
They  become  mere  machines ;  and  without  using  their 
own  understanding  in  the  least,  have  recourse  to  the 
convenient  master  upon  every  occasion.  The  utmost 
that  children  in  such  circumstances  can  learn,  is,  all  the 
technical  part  of  the  art  which  the  master  can  teach. 
When  the  master  is  at  last  dismissed,  and  her  education 
completed,  the  pupil  is  left  both  fatigued  and  .helpless. 
"  Few  have  been  taught  to  any  purpose,  who  have  not 
been  their  own  teachers,"  says  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 


390  PRACTICAL    KDIICATION. 

This  reflection  upon  the  art  of  teaching,  may,  perhaps, 
be  too  general ;  but  those  persons  who  look  back  upon 
their  education,  will,  in  many  respects,  allow  it  to  be 
just.  They  will  perceive  that  they  have  been  too  much 
taught,  that  they  have  learned  every  thing  which  they 
know  as  an  art,  and  nothing  as  a  science.  Few  people 
have  sufficient  courage  to  recommence  their  own  edu- 
cation, and  for  this  reason  few  people  get  beyond  a 
certain  point  of  mediocrity.  It  is  easy  to  them  to  prac- 
tise the  lessons  which  they  have  learned,  if  they  practise 
them  in  intellectual  darkness ;  but  if  you  let  in  upon 
them  one  ray  of  philosophic  light,  you  dazzle  and  con- 
found them,  so  that  they  cannot  even  perform  their  cus- 
tomary feats.  A  young  man,*  who  had  been  blind  from 
his  birth,  had  learned  to  draw  a  cross,  a  circle,  and  a 
square,  with  great  accuracy;  when  he  was  twenty,  his 
eyes  were  couched,  and  when  he  could  see  perfectly 
well,  he  was  desired  to  draw  his  circle  and  square.  His 
new  sense  of  seeing,  so  far  from  assisting  him  in  this 
operation,  was  extremely  troublesome  to  him ;  though 
he  took  more  pains  than  usual,  he_performed  very  ill: 
confounded  by  the  new  difficulty,  he  concluded  that  sight 
was  useless  in  all  operations  to  be  performed  by  the 
hand,  and  he  thought  his  eyes  would  be  of  no  use  to  him 
in  future.  How  many  people  find  their  reason  as  useless 
and  troublesome  to  them  as  this  young  man  found  his 
eyesight. 

While  we  are  learning  any  mechanical  operation,  or 
while  we  are  acquiring  any  technical  art,  the  mind  is 
commonly  passive.  In  the  first  attempts,  perhaps,  we 
reason  or  invent  ways  of  abridging  our  own  labour,  and 
the  awkwardness  of  the  unpractised  hand  is  assisted  by 
ingenuity  and  reflection ;  but  as  we  improve  in  manual 
dexterity,  attention  and  ingenuity  are  no  longer  ex- 
erted ;  we  go  on  habitually  without  thought. — Thought 
would  probably  interrupt  the  operation,  and  break  the 
chain  of  associated  actions. f  An  artificer  stops  his 
hand  the  moment  you  ask  him  to  explain  what  he  is 
about :  he  can  work  and  talk  of  indifferent  objects  ;  but 
if  he  reflects  upon  the  manner  in  which  he  performs 
certain  sleight  of  hand  parts  of  his  business,  it  is  ten  to 

• 

*  See  Storia  di  quattro  fratelli  nati  ciechi  e  guariti  coll'  estrazioiio 
"delle  cateratte. — Di  Francesco  Bnzzi. 
~*  See  Zoonomia. 


FF.MALK   ACCOMPLISHMENTS,   I-TC.  H91 

4\<t  but  he  cannot  go  on  with  them.  A  man  who  writes 
<*  free  running  hand,  goes  on  without  thinking  of  the* 
manner  in  which  he  writes;  fix  his  attention  upon  the 
manner  in  which  he  holds  his  pen,  or  forms  his  letters, 
and  he  probably  will  not  write  quite  so  fast,  or  so  well 
as  usual.  When  a  girl  first  attempts  to  dress  herself  at 
a  glass,  the  glass  perplexes,  instead  of  assisting  her,  be- 
cause she  thinks  and  reasons  about  every  motion ;  but 
when  by  habit  she  has  learned  to  move  her  hands  in 
obedience  to  the  flugel  image,*  which  performs  its  ex- 
ercise in  the  mirror,  no  farther  thought  is  employed. 
Make  the  child  observe  that  she  moves  her  left  hand 
forward  when  the  image  in  the  glass  moves  in  a  con- 
trary manner,  turn  the  child's  attention  to  any  of  her 
own  motions,  and  she  will  make  mistakes  as  she  did  be- 
fore her  habits  were  formed. 

Many  occupations  which  are  generally  supposed  to 
depend  upon  the  understanding,  and  which  do  probably 
depend  in  the  first  instance  upon  the  understanding,  be- 
come by  practice  purely  mechanical.  This  is  the  case 
in  many  of  the  imitative  arts.  A  person  unused  to 
drawing,  exerts  a  great  deal  of  attention  in  copying  any 
new  object ;  but  custom  soon  supplies  the  place  of 
thought.  By  custom,!  as  a  great  artist  assures  us,  he 
will  become  able  to  draw  the  human  figure  tolerably 
correctly,  with  as  little  effort  of  the  mind,  as  to  trace 
with  a  pen  the  letters  of  the  alphabet. 

We  must  farther  observe,  that  the  habit  of  pursuing 
any  occupation  which  requires  no  mental  exertion,  in- 
duces an  indolence  or  incapacity  of  intellect.  Mere 
artists  are  commonly  as  stupid  as  mere  artificers,  and 
these  are  little  more  than  machines. 

The  length  of  time  which  is  required  to  obtain  practi- 
cal skill  and  dexterity  in  certain  accomplishments,  is 
one  reason  why  there  are  so  few  people  who  obtain 
any  thing  more  than  mechanical  excellence.  They  be- 
come the  slaves  of  custom,  and  they  become  proud  of 
their  slavery.  At  first  they  might  have  considered  cus- 
tom as  a  tyrant ;  but  when  they  have  obeyed  her  for  a 
certain  time,  they  do  her  voluntary  homage  ever  after, 
as  to  a  sovereign  by  divine  right.  To  prevent  this  spe- 


*  This  word  is  sometimes  by  mistake  spelled  fugal,  or  fugle,  as  in 
fngle-man. 
t  .Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 


PRAOTlfTA!.     FPECATIOV 

cies  of  intellectual  degradation,  we  must  in  education  be 
['careful  to  rank  mere  mechanical  talents  below  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  mental  powers.  Thus  the  ambition  of 
young1  people  will  be  directed  to  high  objects,  and  all 
inferior  qualifications  may  be  attained  without  contract- 
ing the  understanding.  Praise  children  for  patience, 
for  perseverance,  for  industry  ;  encourage  them  to  rea- 
son and  to  invent  upon  all  subjects,  and  you  may  direct 
their  attention  afterward  as  you  think  proper.  But  if 
you  applaud  children  merely  for  drawing  a  flower 
neatly,  or  copying  a  landscape,  without  exciting  their 
ambition  to  any  thing  higher,  you  will  never  create 
superior  talents,  or  a  superior  character.  The  profi- 
ciency that  is  made  in  any  particular  accomplishment, 
at  any  given  age,  should  not  be  considered  so  much, 
even  by  those  who  highly  value  accomplishments,  as 
the  power,  the  energy,  that  is  excited  in  the  pupil's  mind, 
from  which  future  progress  is  ensured.  The  writing 
and  drawing  automaton  performs  its  advertised  wonders 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  spectators  ;  but  the  machine  is 
not  "instinct  with  spirit ;"  you  cannot  expect  from  its 
pencil  the  sketch  of  a  Raphael,  or  from  its  pen  the 
thoughts  of  a  Shakspeare.  It  is  easy  to  guide  the  hand, 
but  who  can  transfuse  a  soul  into  the  image  ? 

It  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  hear  young  people 
who  have  been  long  under  the  tuition  of  masters,  com- 
plain of  their  own  want  of  genius.  They  are  sensible 
that  they  have  not  made  great  progress  in  any  of  the 
accomplishments  which  they  have  endeavoured  to  learn ; 
they  see  others,  who  have  not,  perhaps,  had  what  they 
call  such  opportunities  and  advantages  in  their  education, 
suddenly  surpass  them  ;  this  they  attribute  to  natural 
genius,  and  they  say  to  themselves  in  despair,  "  Cer- 
tainly I  have  no  taste  for  drawing ;  I  have  no  genius  for 
music  ;  I  have  learned  so  many  years,  I  have  had  so 
many  lessons  from  the  best  masters,  and  yet  here  is 
such  and  such  a  one,  who  has  had  no  master,  who  has 
taught  herself,  and,  perhaps,  did  not  begin  till  late  in  life, 
has  got  before  me,  because  she  has  a  natural  genius  for 
these  things.  She  must  have  a  natural  taste  for  them, 
because  she  can  sit  whole  hours  at  these  things  for  her 
own  pleasure.  Now  I  never  would  take  a  pencil  in  my 
hand  from  my  own  choice ;  and  I  am  glad,  at  all  events, 
that  the  time  for  lessons  and  masters  is  over.  My  edu- 
cation is  finished,  for  I  am  of  age." 


FEMALE    ACCOMPLISHMENTS,    ETC.  393 

The  disgust  and  despair  which  are  thus  induced  by  an 
injudicious  education,  absolutely  defeat  its  own  trivial 
purposes.  So  that,  whatever  may  be  the  views  of  pa- 
rents, whether  they  consider  ornamental  accomplish- 
ments as  essential  to  their  daughter's  success  in  the 
world,  or  whether  they  value  them  rather  as  secondary 
objects,  subordinate  to  her  happiness;  whether  they 
wish  their  daughter  actually  to  excel  in  any  particular 
accomplishment,  or  to  have  the  power  of  excelling  in 
any  to  which  circumstances  may  direct  her,  it  is  in  all 
cases  advisable  to  cultivate  the  general  power  of  the 
pupil's  understanding,  instead  of  confining  her  to  tech- 
nical practices  and  precepts,  under  the  eye  of  any  master 
who  does  not  possess  that  which  is  the  soul  of  every  art. 

We  do  not  mean  any  illiberal  attack  upon  masters  ; 
but  in  writing  upon  education,  it  is  necessary  to  exam- 
ine the  utility  of  different  modes  of  instruction,  without 
fear  of  offending  any  class  of  men.  We  acknowledge 
that  it  is  seldom  found,  that  those  who  can  communicate 
their  knowledge  the  best  possess  the  most,  especially  if 
this  knowledge  be  that  of  an  artist  or  a  linguist.  Before 
any  person  is  properly  qualified  to  teach,  he  must  have 
the  power  of  recollecting  exactly  how  he  learned ;  he 
must  go  back,  step  by  step,  to  the  point  at  which  he 
began,  and  he  must  be  able  to  conduct  his  pupil  through 
the  same  path,  without  impatience  or  precipitation.  He 
must  not  only  have  acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  process 
by  which  his  own  ideas  and  habits  were  formed,  but  he 
must  have  extensive  experience  of  the  varieties  of  the 
human  mind.  He  must  not  suppose  that  the  operations 
of  intellect  are  carried  on  in  the  same  manner  in  all 
minds;  he  must  not  imagine  that  there  is  but  one 
method  of  teaching,  which  will  suit  all  persons  alike. 
The  analogies  which  strike  his  own  mind,  the  arrange- 
ment of  ideas  which  to  him  appears  the  most  perspicu- 
ous, to  his  pupil  may  appear  remote  and  confused.  He 
must  not  attribute  this  to  his  pupil's  inattention,  stupid- 
ity, or  obstinacy ;  but  he  must  attribute  it  to  the  true 
causes ;  the  different  association  of  ideas  in  different 
minds,  the  different  habits  of  thinking  which  arise  from 
their  various  tempers  and  previous  education.  He  must 
be  acquainted  with  the  habits  of  all  tempers :  the  slow, 
the  quick,  the  inventive,  the  investigating ;  and  he  must 
adapt  his  instructions  accordingly.  There  is  something 
more  requisite  :  a  master  must  not  only  know  what  he 
R  3 


394  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

professes  to  teach  of  his  own  peculiar  art  or  science, 
but  he  ought  to  know  all  its  bearings  and  dependances. 
He  must  be  acquainted  not  only  with  the  local  topog- 
raphy of  his  own  district,  but  he  must  have  the  whole 
map  of  human  knowledge  before  him;  and  while  he 
dwells  most  upon  his  own  province,  he  must  yet  be  free 
from  local  prejudices,  and  must  consider  himself  as  a 
citizen  of  the  world.  Children  who  study  geography 
in  small  separate  maps,  understand,  perhaps,  the  view 
of  each  country  tolerably  well ;  but  we  see  them  quite 
puzzled  when  they  are  to  connect  these  maps  in  their 
idea  of  the  world.  They  do  not  know  the  relative  size 
or  situation  of  England  or  France;  they  cannot  find 
London  or  Paris  when  they  look  for  the  first  time  upon 
the  globe,  and  every  country  seems  to  be  turned  upside 
down  in  their  imagination.  Young  people  who  learn 
particular  arts  and  sciences  from  masters  who  have 
confined  their  view  to  the  boundaries  of  each,  without 
having  given  an  enlarged  idea  of  the  whole,  are  much  in 
the  same  situation  with  these  unfortunate  geographers. 

The  persisting  to  teach  things  separately  which 
ought  to  be  taught  as  a  whole,  must  prevent  the  progress 
of  mental  cultivation.*  The  division  and  subdivision 
of  different  parts  of  education,  which  are  monopolized 
as  trades  by  the  masters  who  profess  to  teach  them, 
must  tend  to  increase  and  perpetuate  error.  These  in- 
tellectual castes  are  pernicious. 

It  is  said  that  the  Persians  had  masters  to  teach  their 
children  each  separate  virtue:  one  master  to  teach  jus- 
tice, another  fortitude,  another  temperance,  and  so  on. 
How  these  masters  could  preserve  the  boundaries  of 
their  several  moral  territories,  it  is  not  easy  to  imagine, 
especially  if  they  all  insisted  upon  independent  sover- 
eignty. There  must  have  been  some  danger,  surely,  of 
their  disputing  with  each  other  concerning  the  impor- 
tance of  their  respective  professions,  like  the  poor 
bourgeois  gentilhomme's  dancing-master,  music-master, 
master  of  morality,  and  master  of  philosophy,  who  all 
fell  to  blows  to  settle  their  pretensions,  forgetful  of  the 
presence  of  their  pupil.  Masters  who  are  only  ex- 
pected to  teach  one  thing,  may  be  sincerely* anxious  for 
the  improvement  of  their  pupils  in  that  particular,  with- 
out being  in  the  least  interested  for  their  general  char- 

*  Condillac. 


FEMALE    ACCOMPLISHMENTS,    ETC.  395 

acter  or  happiness.  Thus  the  drawing-master  has  done 
his  part,  and  is  satisfied  if  he  teaches  his  pupil  to  draw 
well:  it  is  no  concern  of  his  what  her  temper  may  be, 
any  more  than  what  sort  of  hand  she  writes,  or  how  she 
dances.  The  dancing-master,  in  his  turn,  is  wholly  in- 
different about  the  young  lady's  progress  in  drawing; 
all  he  undertakes  is  to  teach  her  to  dance. 

We   mention  these  circumstances  to    show  parents 
that  masters,  even  when  they  do  the  utmost  that  they 
engage  to  do,  cannot  educate  their  children ;  they  can 
only  partially  instruct  them  in  particular  arts.     Parents 
must  themselves  preside  over  the  education  of  their 
children,  or  must  entirely  give  them  into  the  care  of 
some  person  of  an  enlarged  and  philosophic  mind,  who 
can  supply  all  the  deficiencies  of  common  masters,  and 
who  can  take  advantage  of  all  the  positive  good  that  can 
be  obtained   from  existing  institutions.     Such   a  pre- 
ceptor or  governess  must  possess  extensive  knowledge, 
and  that  superiority  of  mind  which  sees  the  just  pro- 
portion and  value  of  every  acquisition,  which  is  not  to 
be  overawed  by  authority,  or  dazzled  by  fashion.    Under 
the   eye  of  such  persons,  masters  will  keep  precisely 
their  proper  places  ;  they  will  teach  all  they  can  teach, 
without  instilling  absurd  prejudices,  or  inspiring  a  spirit 
of  vain  rivalship ;  nor  will  masters  be  suffered  to  continue 
their  lessons  when  they  have  nothing  more  to  teach. 
/""""Parents  who  do  not  think  that  they  have  leisure,  or 
f    feel  that  they  have  capacity,  to  take  the  entire  direction 
^of  their  children's  education  upon  themselves,  will  trust 
tmis  important  office  to  a  governess.     The  inquiry  con- 
kerning  the  value  of  female  accomplishments,  has  been 
/  purposely  entered  into  before  we  could  speak  of  the 
\    choice  of  a  governess,  because  the  estimation  in  which 
\  these  are  held  will  very  much  determine  parents  in  their 
\choice. 

v  If  what  has  been  said  of  the  probability  of  a  decline 
mJJie  public  taste  for  what  are  usually  called  accom- 
plishments ;  of  their  little  utility  to  the  happiness  of 
families  and  individuals ;  of  the  waste  of  time,  and 
waste  of  the  higher  powers  of  the  mind  in  acquiring 
them  ;  if  what  has  been  observed  on  any  of  these  points 
is  allowed  to  be  just,  we  shall  have  little  difficulty  in 
pursuing  the  same  principles  farther.  In  the  choice  of 
a  governess  we  should  not  then  consider  her  fashion- 
able accomplishments  as  her  best  recommendations; 


396  PRACTICAL  KDUCATION. 

these  will  be  only  secondary  objects.  We  shall  examine, 
with  more  anxiety,  whether  she  possess  a  sound,  dis- 
criminating, and  enlarged  understanding:  whether  her 
mind  be  free  from  prejudice  ;  whether  she  has  steadi- 
ness of  temper  to  pursue  her  own  plans  ;  and,  above  all, 
whether  she  has  that  species  of  integrity  which  will 
justify  a  parent  in  trusting  a  child  to  her  care.  We 
shall  attend  to  her  conversation  and  observe  her  man- 
ners, with  scrupulous  minuteness.  Children  are  imitative 
animals,  and  they  are  peculiarly  disposed  to  imitate  the 
language,  manners,  and  gestures,  of  those  with  whom 
they  live,  and  to  whom  they  look  up  with  admiration. 
In  female  education,  too  much  care  cannot  be  taken  to 
form  all  those  habits  in  morals  and  in  manners  which 
are  distinguishing  characteristics  of  amiable  women. 
These  habits  must  be  acquired  early,  or  they  will  never 
appear  easy  or  graceful ;  they  will  necessarily  be  formed 
by  those  who  see  none  but  good  models. 

We  have  already  pointed  out  the  absolute  necessity 
of  union  among  all  those  who  are  concerned  in  a  child's 
education.  A  governess  must  either  rule  or  obey,  de- 
cidedly. If  she  do  not  agree  with  the  child's  parents  in 
opinion,  she  must  either  know  how  to  convince  them 
by  argument,  or  she  must  with  strict  integrity  conform 
her  practice  to  their  theories.  There  are  few  parents 
who  will  choose  to  give  up  the  entire  care  of  their 
children  to  any  governess  ;  therefore,  there  will  prob- 
ably be  some  points  in  which  a  difference  of  opinion 
will  arise.  A  sensible  woman  will  never  submit  to  be 
treated,  as  governesses  are  in  some  families,  like  the  ser- 
vant who  was  asked  by  his  master  what  business  he  had 
to  think:  nor  will  a  woman  of  sense  or  temper  insist 
upon  her  opinions  without  producing  her  reasons.  She 
will  thus  ensure  the  respect  as  -1  the  confidence  of  en- 
lightened parents. 

It  is  surely  the  interest  of  parents  to  treat  the  person 
who  educates  their  children  with  that  perfect  equality 
and  kindness  which  will  conciliate  her  affection,  and 
which  will  at  the  same  time  preserve  her  influence  and 
authority  over  her  pupils.  And  it  is  with  pleasure  we 
observe,  that  the  style  of  behaviour  to  governesses,  in 
wellbred  families,  is  much  changed  within  these  few 
years.  A  governess  is  no  longer  treated  as  an  upper 
servant,  or  as  an  intermediate  being  between  a  servant 
and  a  gentlewoman :  she  is  now  treated  as  the  friend 


FEMALE    ACCOMPLISHMENTS,    ETC.  397 

and  companion  of  the  family;  and  she  must,  conse- 
quently, have  warm  and  permanent  interest  in  its  pros- 
perity :  she  becomes  attached  to  her  pupils  from  grati- 
tude to  their  parents,  from  sympathy,  from  generosity, 
as  well  as  from  the  strict  sense  of  duty. 

In  fashionable  life  there  is,  however,  some  danger  that 
parents  should  go  into  extremes-  in  their  behaviour 
towards  their  governesses.  Those  who  disdain  the  idea 
of  assuming  superiority  of  rank  and  fortune,  and  who 
desire  to  treat  the  person  who  educates  their  children  as 
their  equal,  act  with  perfect  propriety  ;  but  if  they  make 
her  their  companion  in  all  their  amusements,  they  go  a 
step  too  far,  and  they  defeat  their  own  purposes.  If  a 
governess  attends  the  card-table  and  the  assembly- 
room  ;  if  she  is  to  visit  and  be  visited,  what  is  to  be- 
come of  her  pupils  in  her  absence  1  They  must  be  left 
to  the  care  of  servants.  There  are  some  ladies  who 
will  not  accept  of  any  invitation  in  which  the  govern- 
ess of  their  children  is  not  included.  This  may  be  done 
from  a  good  motive,  but,  surely,  it  is  unreasonable ;  for 
the  very  use  of  a  governess  is  to  supply  the  mother's 
place  in  her  absence.  Cannot  this  be  managed  better  ? 
Cannot  the  mother  and  governess  both  amuse  them- 
selves at  different  times  ?  There  would  then  be  perfect 
equality ;  the  governess  would  be  in  the  same  society, 
and  would  be  treated  with  the  same  respect,  without 
neglecting  her  duty.  The  reward  which  is  given  to 
women  of  abilities  and  of  unblemished  reputation,  who 
devote  themselves  to  the  superintendence  of  the  educa- 
tion of  young  ladies  in  the  higher  ranks  of  life,  ought  to 
be  considerably  greater  than  it  is  at  present :  it  ought  to 
be  such  as  to  excite  women  to  cultivate  their  talents 
and  their  understandings,  with  a  view  to  this  profession. 
A  profession  we  call  it,  for  it  should  be  considered  as 
such ;  as  an  honourable  profession,  which  a  gentlewoman 
might  follow  without  losing  any  degree  of  the  estima- 
tion in  which  she  is  held  by  what  is  called  the  world. 
There  is  no  employment,  at  present,  by  which  a  gentle- 
woman can  maintain  herself,  without  losing  something  of 
that  respect,  something  of  that  rank  in  society,  which 
neither  female  fortitude  nor  male  philosophy  wil- 
lingly foregoes.  The  liberal  professions  are  open  to  men 
of  small  fortunes  ;  by  presenting  one  similar  resource 
to  women,  we  should  give  a  strong  motive  for  their 
moral  and  intellectual  improvement. 
34 


398  PRACTICAL     EDUCATION. 

Nor  does  it  seem  probable  that  they  should  make  a 
disgraceful  or  imprudent  use  of  their  increasing  influ- 
ence and  liberty  in  this  case,  because  their  previous 
education  must  previously  prepare  them  properly.  The 
misfortune  of  women  has  usually  been,  to  have  power 
trusted  to  them  before  they  were  educated  to  use  it 
prudently.  To  say  that  preceptresses  in  the  higher 
ranks  of  life  should  be  liberally  rewarded,  is  but  a  vague 
expression;  something  specific  should  be  mentioned, 
wherever  general  utility  is  the  object.  Let  us  observe, 
that  many  of  the  first  dignities  of  the  church  are  be- 
stowed, and  properly  bestowed,  upon  men  who  have 
educated  the  highest  ranks  of  the  English  nobility. 
Those  who  look  with  an  evil  eye  upon  these  promotions, 
do  not  fairly  estimate  the  national  importance  of  educa- 
tion for  the  rich  and  powerful.  No  provision  can  be 
"made  for  women  who  direct  the  education  of  the 
daughters  of  nobility,  any  way  equivalent  to  the  pro- 
vision made  for  preceptors  by  those  who  have  influence 
in  the  state.  A  pecuniary  compensation  is  in  the  power 
of  opulent  families.  Three  hundred  a  year,  for  twelve 
or  fourteen  years,  the  space  of  time  which  a  preceptress 
must  probably  employ  in  the  education  of  a  young  lady, 
would  be  a  suitable  compensation  for  her  care.  With 
this  provision  she  would  be  enabled,  after  her  pupil's 
education  was  completed,  either  to  settle  in  her  own 
family,  or  she  would,  in  the  decline  of  life,  be  happily 
independent, — secure  from  the  temptation  of  marrying 
for  money.  If  a  few  munificent  and  enlightened  indi- 
viduals set  the  example  of  liberally  rewarding  merit  in 
this  situation,  many  young  women  will  probably  appear 
with  talents  and  good  qualities  suited  to  the  views  of 
the  most  sanguine  parents.  With  good  sense  and 
literary  tastes,  a  young  woman  might  instruct  he-rself 
during  the  first  years  of  her  pupil's  childhood,  and  might 
gradually  prepare  herself  with  all  the  necessary  knowl- 
edge :  according  to  the  principles  that  have  been  sug- 
gested, there  would  be  no  necessity  for  her  being  a 
mistress  of  arts,  a  performer  in  music,  a  painter,  a  lin- 
guist, or  a  poetess.  A  general  knowledge  of  literature 
is  indispensable  ;  and  yet  farther,  she  must  have  sufficient 
taste  and  judgment  to  direct  the  literary  talents  of  her 
pupils. 

With  respect  to  the  literary  education  of  the  female 
sex,  the  arguments  on  both  sides  of  the  question  have 


FEMALE    ACCOMPLISHMENTS,    ETC.  399 

already  been  stated,  with  all  the  impartiality  in  our 
power,  in  another  place.*  Without  obtruding  a  detail 
of  the  same  arguments  again  upon  the  public,  it  will  be 
sufficient  to  profess  tlie  distinct  opinion,  which  a  longer 
consideration  of  the  subject  has  yet  more  fully  con- 
firmed. That  it  will  tend  to  the  happiness  of  society  in 
general,  that  women  should  have  their  understandings 
cultivated  and  enlarged  as  much  as  possible  ;  that  the 
happiness  of  domestic  life,  the  virtues  and  the  powers 
of  pleasing  in  the  female  sex,  the  yet  more  desirable 
power  of  attaching  those  worthy  of  their  love  and 
esteem,  will  be  increased  by  the  judicious  cultivation  of 

thp  fp.malft  jinffcflrtpiylingvmnrft,  t.hnn  by  all  that  modem 

gallantry  or  ancient  chivalry  could  devise  in  favour  of 
the  sex.  Much  prudence  and  ability  are  requisite  to 
conduct  properly  a  young  woman's  literary  education. 
Her  imagination  must  not  be  raised  above  the  taste  for 
necessary  occupations,  or  the  numerous  small,  but  .not 
trilling,  pleasures  of  domestic  life  :  her  mind  must  be 
enlarged,,  yet  the  delicacy  of  her  manners  must  be  pre- 
served ;~  her  knowledge,  must  b&  various,  and  her  powers 
o_f_reasomng  imawed  by  authority  ;  yet  she  must  habitu- 
ally feel  that  nice  sense  of  propriety  which  is  at  once 
the  guard  and  the  charm  of  every  feminine  virtue.  By 
early  caution,  unremitting,  scrupulous  caution  in  the 
choice  of  the  books  which  are  put  into  the  hands  of 
girls,  a  mother  or  a  preceptress  may  fully  occupy  and 
entertain  her  pupils,  and  excite  in  their  minds  a  taste  for 
propriety,  as  well  as  a  taste  for  literature.  It  cannot  be 
necessary  to  add  more  than  this  general  idea,  that  a 
mother  ought  to  be  answerable  to  her  daughter's  hus- 
band for  the  books  her  daughter  had  read,  as  well  as  for 
the  company  she  had  kept. 

Those  observations  which  apply  equally  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  understanding  both  of  men  and  of  women, 
we  do  not  here  mean  to  point  out  ;  we  would  speak  only 
of  what  may  be  peculiar  to  female  education.  From 
thfi  l?-arnpd  languages,  woment  by  custom, 


__ 

fortunately  for  them,  are  exempted:  of  ancient  litera- 
ture they  may,  in  translations  which  are  acknowledged 
to  be  excellent,  obtain  a  sufficient  knowledge,  without 
payuifiLjtpo  much  time  and  labour  for  this  classic  pleas- 
ure. Confused  notions  from  fashionable  publications, 

*  See  Letters  for  Literary  Ladies. 


400  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

from  periodical  papers,  and  comedies,  have  made  their 
way  into  common  conversation,  and  thence  have  as- 
sumed an  appearance  of  authority,  and  have  been  ex- 
tremely disadvantageous  to  female  education.  Senti- 
ment arid-ridicule  have  cjpijspired  to  represent  reason, 
knowledge,  and  science,  as  unsuitable  or  dangerous  to 
women;  yet  at  the  same  time  wit,  and  superficial  ac- 
quirements in  literature1,  have  been  the  object  of  admi- 
ration in  society;  so  that  this  dangerous  ..inference  has 
been  drawn,  almost  without  our  perceiving  its  fallacy, 
that  superficial  knowledge  is  more  desirable  in  women 
than  accurate  knowledge.  This  principle  must  lead  to 
i7nttrmi?ra1)le~  errors ;  it  must  produce  continual,  contra- 
dictions in  the  course  of  education  :  instead  of  making 
women  more  reasonable  and  less  presuming,  it  will 
render  them  at  once  arrogant  and  ignorant ;  full  of  pre- 
tensions, incapable  of  application,  and  unfit  to  hear  them- 
selves convinced.  Whatever  young  women  learn,  let 
them  be  taught  accurately ;  let  them  know  ever  so  little 
apparently,  they  will  know  much  if  they  have  learned 
that  little  well.  A  girl  who  runs  through  a  course  of 
natural  history,  hears  something  about  chymistry,  has 
been  taught  something  of  botany,  and  who  knows  but 
just  enough  of  these  to  make  her  fancy  that  she  is  well 
informed,  is  in  a  miserable  situation,  in  danger  of  be- 
coming ridiculous,  and  insupportably  tiresome  to  men  of 
sense  and  science.  But  let  a  woman  know  any,  one  thing 
completely,  and  she  will  have  sufficient  understanding 
to  learn  more,  and  to  apply  what  she  has  been  taught  so 
as  to  interest  men  of  generosity  and  genius  in  her  fa- 
vour. The  knowledge  of  the  general  principles  of  any 
science,  is  very  different  from  superficial  knowledge  of 
the  science ;  perhaps,  from  not  attending  to  this  distinc- 
tion, or  from  not  understanding  it,  many  have  failed  in 
female  education.  Some  attempt  will  be  made  to  mark 
this  distinction  practically,  when  we  come  to  speak  of 
the  cultivation  of  the  memory,  invention,  and  judgment. 
No  intelligent  preceptress  will,  it  is  hoped,  find  any  diffi- 
culty in  the  application  of  the  observations  she  may 
meet  with  in  the  chapters  on  imagination,  sympathy  and 
I  sensibility,  vanity  and  temper.  The  masculine  pronoun 
\he,  has  been  used  for  grammatical  convenience,  not  at 
lall  because  we  agree  with  the  prejudiced  and  uncour- 
[teous  grammarian,  who  asserts,  "  that  the  masculine  is 
ithe  more  worthy  gender." 


MEMORY    AND    INVENTION.  401 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

MEMORY    AND    INVENTION. 

BEFORE  we  bestow  many  years  of  time  and  pains  upon 
any  object,  it  may  be  prudent  to  afford  a  few  minutes 
previously  to  ascertain  its  precise  value.  Many  per- 
sons have  a  vague  idea  of  the  great  value  of  memory, 
and,  without  analyzing  their  opinion,  they  resolve  to 
cultivate  the  memories  of  their  children  as  much,  and 
as  soon,  as  possible.  So  far  from  having  determined  the 
value  of  this  talent,  we  shall  find  that  it  will  be  difficult 
to  give  a  popular  definition  of  a  good  memory.  Some 
people  call  that  a  good  memory  which  retains  the  great- 
est number  of  ideas  for  the  longest  time.  Others  prefer 
a  recollective  to  a  retentive  memory,  and  value  not  so 
much  the  number,  as  the  selection,  of  facts  ;  not  so 
much  the  mass  or  even  the  antiquity  of  accumulated 
treasure,  as  the  power  of  producing  current  specie  for 
immediate  use.  Memory  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  if 
it  were  a  faculty  admirable  in  itself,  without  any  union 
with  the  other  powers  of  the  mind.  Among  those  who 
allow  that  memory  has  no  independent  claim  to  regard, 
there  are  yet  many  who  believe,  that  a  superior  degree 
of  memory  is  essential  to  the  successful  exercise  of  the 
higher  faculties,  such  as  judgment  and  invention.  The 
degree  in  which  it  is  useful  to  those  powers,  has  not, 
however,  been  determined.  Those  who  are  governed 
in  their  opinions  by  precedent  and  authority,  can  pro- 
duce many  learned  names  to  prove  that  memory  was 
held  in  the  highest  estimation  among  the  great  men  of 
antiquity  ;  it  was  cultivated  with  much  anxiety  in  their 
public  institutions,  and  in  their  private  education.  But 
there  were  many  circumstances  which  formerly  con- 
tributed to  make  a  great  memory  essential  to  a  great 
man.  In  civil  and  military  employments,  among  the 
ancients,  it  was  in  a  high  degree  requisite.  Generals 
were  expected  to  know  by  heart  the  names  of  the  sol- 
diers in  their  armies ;  demagogues  who  hoped  to  please 
the  people,  were  expected  to  know  the  names  of  all 


402  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

their  fellow-citizens.*  Orators  who  did  not  speak  ex- 
tempore, were  obliged  to  get  their  long  orations  by  rote. 
Those  who  studied  science  or  philosophy,  were  obliged 
to  cultivate  their  memory  with  incessant  care,  because, 
if  they  frequented  the  schools  for  instruction,  they  treas- 
ured up  the  sayings  of  the  masters  of  different  sects, 
and  learned  their  doctrines  only  by  oral  instruction. 
Manuscripts  were  frequently  got  by  heart  by  those  who 
were  eager  to  secure  the  knowledge  they  contained, 
and  who  had  not  opportunities  of  recurring  to  the  origi- 
nals. It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  memory,  to 
which  so  much  was  trusted,  should  have  been  held  in 
such  high  esteem. 

At  the  revival  of  literature  in  Europe,  before  the  dis- 
covery of  the  art  of  printing,  it  was  scarcely  possible  to 
make  any  progress  in  the  literature  of  the  age,  without 
possessing  a  retentive  memory.  A  man  who  had  read 
a  few  manuscripts  and  could  repeat  them,  was  a  wonder 
and  a  treasure  :  he  could  travel  from  place  to  place,  and 
live  by  his  learning;  he  was  a  circulating  library  to  a 
nation,  and  the  more  books  he  cowld  carry  in  his  head, 
the  better :  he  was  certain  of  an  admiring  audience,  if 
he  could  repeat  what  Aristotle  or  Saint  Jerome  had 
written ;  and  he  had  far  more  encouragement  to  engrave 
the  words  of  others  on  his  memory,  than  to  invent  or 
judge  for  himself. 

In  the  twelfth  century,  above  six  hundred  scholars 
assembled  in  the  forests  of  Champagne,  to  hear  the  lec- 
tures of  the  learned  Abeillard ;  they  made  themselves 
huts  of  the  boughs  of  trees,  and  in  this  new  academic 
grove  were  satisfied  to  go  almost  without  the  necessa- 
ries of  life.  In  the  specimens  of  Abeillard's  composi- 
tion which  are  handed  down  to  us,  we  may  discover 
proofs  of  his  having  been  vain  of  a  surprising  memory ; 
it  seems  to  have  been  the  superior  faculty  of  his  mind  : 
his  six  hundred  pupils  could  carry  away  with  them  onty 
so  much  of  his  learning  as  they  could  get  by  heart  du- 
ring his  course  of  lectures ;  and  he  who  had  the  best 
memory,  must  have  been  best  paid  for  his  journey.f 

The  art  of  printing,  by  multiplying  copies  so  as  to  put 
them  within  the  easy  reference  of  all  classes  of  people, 
has  reduced  the  value  of  this  species  of  retentive  mem- 

*  See  Plutarch.     Quintilian. 

f  Berrington's  History  of  the  Lives  of  Abeillard  and  Heloisa,  p.  173. 


MEMORY    AND    INVENTION.  403 

ory.  It  is  better  to  refer  to  the  book  itself,  than  to  the 
man  who  has  read  the  book.  Knowledge  is  now  ready 
classed  for  use,  and  it  is  safely  stored  up  in  the  great 
commonplace  books  of  public  libraries.  A  man  of  lit- 
erature need  not  encumber  his  memory  with  whole  pas- 
sages from  the  authors  he  wants  to  quote ;  he  need  only 
mark  down  the  page,  and  the  words  are  safe. 

Mers  erudition  does  not  in  these  days  ensure  perma- 
nent fame.  The  names  of  the  Abbe  de  Longuerue  and 
of  the  Florentine  librarian  Magliabechi,  excite  no  vivid 
emotions  in  the  minds  of  those  who  have  heard  of  them 
before ;  and  there  are  many,  perhaps  not  illiterate  per- 
sons, who  would  not  be  ashamed  to  own  that  they  had 
never  heard  of  them  at  all.  Yet  these  men  were  both 
of  them,  but  a  few  years  ago,  remarkable  for  extraordi- 
nary memory  and  erudition.  When  M.  de  Longuerue 
was  a  child,  he  was  such  a  prodigy  of  memory  and 
knowledge,  that  Louis  XIV.,  passing  through  the  abbe's 
province,  stopped  to  see  and  hear  him.  When  he  grew 
up,  Paris  consulted  him  as  the  oracle  of  learning.  His 
erudition,  says  d'Alembert,*  was  not  only  prodigious, 
but  actually  terrible.  Greek  and  Hebrew  were  more 
familiar  to  him  than  his  native  tongue.  His  memory 
was  so  well  furnished  with  historic  facts,  with  chrono- 
logical and  topographical  knowledge,  that  upon  hearing 
a  person  assert,  in  conversation,  that  it  would  be  a  diffi- 
cult task  to  write  a  good  historical  description  of  France,! 
he  asserted  that  he  could  do  it  from  memory,  without 
consulting  any  books.  All  he  asked  was  to  have  some 
maps  of  France  laid  before  him  :  these  recalled  to  his 
mind  the  history  of  each  province,  of  all  the  fiefs  of  the 
crown  of  each  city,  and  even  of  each  distinguished  no- 
bleman's seat  in  the  kingdom.  He  wrote  his  folio  his- 
tory in  a  year.  It  was  admired  as  a  great  curiosity  in 
manuscript;  but  when  it  came  to  be  printed,  sundry 
gross  errors  appeared :  he  was  obliged  to  take  out  sev- 
eral leaves  in  correcting  the  press.  The  edition  was 
very  expensive,  and  the  work  at  last  would  have  been 
rather  more  acceptable  to  the  public  if  the  author  had 
not  written  it  from  memory.  Love  of  the  wonderful 
must  yield  to  esteem  for  the  useful. 

The  effect  which  all  this  erudition  had  upon  the  Abb£ 

*  Eloge  de  M.  L'AbW  d' Alary. 

t  Marquis  d'Argenson's  Essays,  p.  385. 


404  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

de  Longuerue's  taste,  judgment,  and  imagination,  is 
worth  our  attention.  Some  of  his  opinions  speak  suffi- 
ciently for  our  purpose.  He  was  of  opinion  that  the 
English  have  never  done  any  good,*  since  they  renounced 
the  study  of  Greek  and  Arabic  for  Geometry  and  Phys- 
ics. He  was  of  opinion  that  two  antiquarian  books  upon 
Homer,  viz.,  Antiquitates  Homerica  and  Homeri  Gnomo- 
ligia,  are  preferable  to  Homer  himself.  He  would  rath- 
er have  them,  he  declared,  because  with  these  he  had 
all  that  was  useful  in  the  poet,  without  being  obliged  to 
go  through  long  stories,  which  put  him  to  sleep.  "  As 
for  that  madman  Ariosto,"  said  he,  **  I  sometimes  divert 
myself  with  him."  One  odd  volume  of  Racine  was  the 
only  French  book  to  be  found  in  his  library.  His  eru- 
dition died  with  him,  and  the  world  has  not  profited 
much  by  his  surprising  memory. 

The  librarian  Magliabechi  was  no  less  famous  than 
M.  de  Longuerue  for  his  memory,  and  he  was  yet  more 
strongly  affected  by  the  mania  for  books.  His  appetite 
for  them  was  so  voracious,  that  he  acquired  the  name 
of  the  glutton  of  literature. f  Before  he  died,  he  had 
swallowed  six  large  rooms  full  of  books.  Whether  he  had 
time  to  digest  any  of  them  we  do  not  know,  but  we  are 
sure  that  he  wished  it ;  for  the  only  line  of  his  own  com- 
position which  he  has  left  for  the  instruction  of  posterity, 
is  round  a  medal.  The  medal  represents  him  sitting 
with  a  book  in  his  hand,  and  with  a  great  number  of 
books  scattered  on  the  floor  round  him.  The  candid  in- 
scription signifies,  that  to  become  learned  it  is  not  suffi- 
cient to  read  much,  if  we  read  without  reflection.  The 
names  of  Franklin  and  of  Shakspeare  are  known  wher- 
ever literature  is  cultivated,  to  all  who  have  any  preten- 
sions to  science  or  to  genius ;  yet  they  were  not  men  of 
extraordinary  erudition,  nor  from  their  works  should  we 
judge  that  memory  was  their  predominant  faculty.  It 
may  be  said  that  a  superior  degree  of  memory  was  es- 
sential to  the  exercise  of  their  judgment  and  invention  ; 
that  without  having  treasured  up  in  his  memory  a  vari- 
ety of  minute  observations  upon  human  nature,  Shak- 
speare could  never  have  painted  the  passions  with  so 
bold  and  just  a  hand  ;  that  if  Franklin  had  not  accurately 
remembered  his  own  philosophical  observations  and 

*  D'Alembert's  Eloge  de  M.  d' Alary. 

t  Curiosities  of  Literature,  vol.  ii.  page  1 45. 


MEMOKV    AND    INVENTION.  405 

those  of  others,  he  never  would  have  made  those 
discoveries  which  have  immortalized  his  name.  Ad- 
mitting the  justice  of  these  assertions,  we  see  that  mem- 
ory to  great  men  is  but  a  subordinate  servant,  a  treas- 
urer who  receives,  and  is  expected  to  keep  faithfully 
whatever  is  committed  to  his  care  ;  and  not  only  to  pre- 
serve faithfully  all  deposites,  but  to  produce  them  at  the 
moment  they  are  wanted.  There  are  substances  which 
are  said  to  imbibe  and  retain  the  rays  of  light,  and  to 
emit  them  only  in  certain  situations.  As  long  as  they 
retain  the  rays,  no  eye  regards  them. 

It  has  often  been  observed  that  a  recollective  and  a 
retentive  memory  are  seldom  found  united.  If  this  were 
true,  and  we  had  our  choice  of  either,  which  should  we 
prefer  ?  For  the  purposes  of  ostentation,  perhaps  the 
one  ;  for  utility,  the  other.  A  person  who  could  repeat 
from  beginning-  to  end  the  whole  Economy  of  Human 
Life,  which  he  had  learned  in  his  childhood,  might,  if  we 
had  time  to  sit  still  and  listen  to  him,  obtain  our  admira- 
tion for  his  extraordinarily  retentive  memory ;  but  the 
person  who,  in  daily  occurrences  or  interesting  affairs, 
recollects  at  the  proper  time  what  is  useful  to  us,  ob- 
tains from  our  gratitude  something  more  than  vain  ad- 
miration. To  speak  accurately,  we  must  remark  that 
retentive  and  recollective  memories  are  but  relative 
terms:  the  recollective  memory  must  be  retentive  of  all 
that  it  recollects ;  the  retentive  memory  cannot  show 
itself  till  the  moment  it  becomes  recollective.  But  we 
value  either  precisely  in  proportion  as  it  is  useful  and 
agreeable. 

Just  at  the  time  when  philosophers  were  intent  upon 
trying  experiments  in  electricity,  Dr.  Heberden  recol- 
lected to  have  seen,  many  years  before,  a  small  elec- 
trical stone,  called  tourmalin,*  in  the  possession  of  Dr. 
Sharpe  at  Cambridge.  It  was  the  only  one  known  in 
England  at  that  time.  Dr.  Heberden  procured  it ;  and 
several  curious  experiments  were  made  and  verified  with 
it.  In  this  instance,  it  is  obvious  that  we  admire  the 
retentive,  local  memory  of  Dr.  Heberden,  merely  be- 
cause it  became  recollective  and  useful.  Had  the  tour- 
malin never  been  wanted,  it  would  have  been  a  matter 
of  indifference  whether  the  direction  for  it  at  Dr.  Sharpe's 
at  Cambridge  had  been  remembered  or  forgotten.  There 

*  Priestley  on  Electricity,  page  317 


406  PRACTICAL    KDUCATIOtf. 

was  a  man*  who  undertook,  in  going1  from  Temple  Bar 
to  the  farthest  part  of  Cheapside  and  back  again,  to  enu- 
merate at  his  return  every  sign  on  each  side  of  the  way 
in  its  order,  and  to  repeat  them,  if  it  should  be  required, 
either  backward  or  forward.  This  he  exactly  accom- 
plished. As  a  playful  trial  of  memory,  this  affords  us  a 
moment's  entertainment ;  but  if  we  were  to  be  serious 
upon  the  subject,  we  should  say  it -was  a  pity  that  the 
man  did  not  use  fiis  extraordinary  memory  for  some 
better  purpose.  The  late  King  of  Prussia,  when  he  in- 
tended to  advance  Trenck  in  the  army,  upon  his  first 
introduction,  gave  him  a  list  of  the  strangest  names 
which  could  be  picked  out,  to  learn  by  rote.  Trenck 
learned  them  quickly,  and  the  king  was  much  pleased 
with  this  instance  of  his  memory  ;  but  Frederick  would 
certainly  never  have  made  such  a  trial  of  the  abilities 
of  Voltaire. 

We  cannot  always  foresee  what  facts  may  be  useful 
and  what  may  be  useless  to  us, — otherwise  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  memory  might  be  conducted  by  unerring 
rules.  In  the  common  business  of  life,  people  regulate 
their  memories  by  the  circumstances  in  which  they  hap- 
pen to  be  placed.  A  clerk  in  a  counting-house,  by  prac- 
tice learns  to  remember  the  circumstances,  affairs,  and 
names  of  numerous  merchants, — of  his  master's  cus- 
tomers, the  places  of  their  abode,  and  perhaps  something 
of  their  peculiar  humours  and  manners.  A  fine  lady  re- 
members her  visiting  list,  and  perhaps  the  dresses  and 
partners  of  every  couple  at  a  crowded  ball ;  she  finds  all 
these  particulars  a  useful  supply  for  daily  conversation, 
she  therefore  remembers  them  with  care.  An  amateur 
who  is  ambitious  to  shine  in  the  society  of  literary  men, 
collects  literary  anecdotes,  and  retails  them  whenever 
occasion  permits.  Men  of  sense,  who  cultivate  their 
memories  for  useful  purposes,  are  not  obliged  to  treas- 
ure up  heterogeneous  facts  :  by  reducing  particulars  to 
general  principles,  and  by  connecting  them  with  proper 
associations,  they  enjoy  all  the  real  advantages,  while 
they  are  exempt  from  the  labour  of  accumulation. 

Mr.  Stewart  has,  with  so  much  ability,  pointed  out 
the  effects  of  systematic  arrangement  of  writing,  read- 
ing, and  the  use  of  technical  contrivances  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  memory,  that  it  would  be  a  presumptuous 

*  Fuller,  author  of  the  Wprthies  of  England.  See  Curiosities  of 
Literature,  vol.  I. 


MEMORY    AND    INVENTION.  H)7 

and  unnecessary  attempt  to  expatiate  in  other  wordy 
upon  the  same  subject,  "it  may  not  be  useless,  however, 
to  repeat  a  few  of  his  observations,  because,  in  consider- 
ing what  farther  improvement  may  be  made,  it  is  always 
essential  to  have  fully  in  our  view  what  is  already 
known. 

"  Philosophic  arrangement  assists  the  memory,  by 
classing  under  a  few  principles  a  number  of  apparently 
dissimilar  and  unconnected  particulars.  The  habit,  for 
instance,  of  attending  to  the  connexion  of  cause  and 
effect,  presents  a  multitude  of  interesting  analogies  to  the 
minds  of  men  of  science,  which  escape  other  persons  ; 
the  vulgar  feel  no  pleasure  in  contemplating  objects  that 
appear  remote  from  common  life ;  and  they  find  it  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  remember  observations  and  reasonings 
which  are  foreign  to  their  customary  course  of  associated 
ideas.  Even  literary  and  ingenious  people,  when  they 
begin  to  learn  any  art  or  science,  usually  complain  that 
their  memory  is  not  able  to  retain  all  the  terms  and 
ideas  which  pour  in  upon  them  with  perplexing  rapidity. 
In  time  this  difficulty  is  conquered,  not  so  much  by  the 
strength  of  the  memory  as  by  the  exercise  of  judgment : 
they  learn  to  distinguish  and  select  the  material  terms, 
facts,  and  arguments,  from  those  that  are  subordinate, 
and  they  class  them  under  general  heads,  to  relieve  the 
memory  from  all  superfluous  labour. 

"  In  all  studies  there  is  some  prevalent  associating  prin- 
ciple, which  gradually  becomes  familiar  to  our  minds, 
but  which  we  do  mot  immediately  discover  in  our  first 
attempts.  In  poetry,  resemblance  ;  in  philosophy,  cause 
and  effect ;  in  mathematics,  demonstrations  continually 
recur  ;  and,  therefore,  each  is  expected  by  persons  who 
have  been  used  to  these  respective  studies. 

"  The  habit  of  committing  our  knowledge  to  writing 
assists  the  memory,  because,  in  writing,  we  detain  cer- 
tain ideas  long  enough  in  our  view  to  perceive  all  their 
relations  ;  we  use  fixed  and  abbreviated  signs  for  all  our 
thoughts  ;  with  the  assistance  of  these,  we  can  prevent 
confusion  in  our  reasonings.  We  can,  without  fatigue, 
by  the  help  of  words,  letters,  figures,  or  algebraic  signs,, 
go  through  a  variety  of  mental  processes,  and  solve 
many  difficult  problems,  which,  without  such  assistance, 
must  have  been  too  extensive  for  our  capacities. 

"  If  our  books  be  well  chosen,  and  if  we  read  with  dis- 
crimination and  attention,  reading  will  improve  the  mem- 


408  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

ory,  because,  as  it  increases  our  knowledge,  it  increases 
our  interest  in  every  new  discovery  and  in  every  new 
combination  of  ideas." 

We  agree  entirely  with  Mr.  Stewart  in  his  observa- 
tions upon  technical  helps  to  the  memory ;  they  are 
hurtful  to  the  understanding,  because  they  break  the 
general  habits  of  philosophic  order  in  the  mind.  There 
is  no  connexion  of  ideas  between  the  memorial  lines,  for 
instance,  in  Gray's  Memoria  Technica,  the  history  of  the 
kings  or  emperors,  and  the  dates  that  we  wish  to  re- 
member. However,  it  may  be  advantageous  in  educa- 
tion to  use  such  contrivances,  to  assist  our  pupils  in  re- 
membering those  technical  parts  of  knowledge  which 
are  sometimes  valued  above  their  worth  in  society. 

The  facts  upon  which  the  principles  of  any  science 
are  founded,  should  never  be  learned  by  rote  in  a  tech- 
nical manner.  But  the  names  and  the  dates  of  the  reigns 
of  a  number  of  kings  and  emperors,  if  they  must  be  re- 
membered by  children,  should  be  learned  in  the  manner 
which  may  give  them  the  least  trouble.* 

It  is  commonly  asserted  that  our  memory  is  to  be 
improved  by  exercise ;  exercise  may  be  of  different 
kinds,  and  we  must  determine  what  sort  is  best.  Repeti- 
tion is  found  to  fix  words,  and  sometimes  ideas,  strongly 
in  the  mind  ;  the  words  of  the  burden  of  a  song  which  we 
have  frequently  heard,  are  easily  and  long  remembered. 
When  we  want  to  get  any  thing  by  rote,  we  repeat  it 
over  and  over  again,  till  the  sounds  seem  to  follow  each 
other  habitually,  and  then  we  say  we  have  them  per- 
fectly by  rote.f  The  regular  recurrence  of  sounds,  at 
stated  intervals,  much  assists  us.  In^poetry,  the  rhymes, 
the  cadence,  the  alliteration,  the  peculiar  structure  of 
the  poet's  lineSj  aid  us.  All  these  are  mechanical  helps 
to  the  memory.  Repetition  seems  much  more  agree- 
able to  some  people  than  to  others ;  but  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  a  facility  and  propensity  to  repetition 
be  favourable  to  rational  memory.  While  we  repeat, 
we  exclude  all  thought  from  the  mind  ;  we  form  a  habit 
of  saying  certain  sounds  in  a  certain  order ;  but  if  this 
habit  be  afterward  broken  by  any  trifling  external  cir- 
cumstances, we  lose  all  our  labour.  We  have  no  means 
of  recollecting  what  we  have  learned  in  this  manner. 

*  See  chapter  on  Books,  and  on  Geography, 
t  Dr.  Darwin.    Zoonomia. 


MEMORY     AND    INVENTION.  409 

Once  gone,  it  is  gone  for  ever.  It  depends  but  upon  one 
principle  of  association.  Those  who  exert  ingenuity  as 
well  as  memory  in  learning  by  heart,  may  not,  perhaps, 
associate  sounds  with  so  much  expedition,  but  they  will 
have  the  power  of  recollection  in  a  greater  degree. 
They  will  have  more  chances  in  their  favour,  besides 
the  great  power  of  voluntary  exertion — a  power  which 
few  passive  repeaters  ever  possess.  The  following 
lines  are  easily  learned  : — 

"  Haste,  then,  ye  spirits ;  to  your  charge  repair; 
The  fluttering  fan  be  Zephyretta's  care  ; 
The  drops  to  thee,  Brillante,  we  consign, 
And,  Momentilla,  let  the  watch  be  thine  ; 
Do  thou,  Crispissa,  tend  her  favourite  lock, 
Ariel  himself  shall  be  the  guard  of  Shock." 

To  a  person  who  merely  learned  the  sounds  in  these 
lines  by  rote,  without  knowing  the  sense  of  the  words, 
all  the  advantage  of  the  appropriated  names  and  offices 
of  the  sylphs  would  be  lost.  No  one,  who  has  any 
sense  of  propriety,  can  call  these  sylphs  by  wrong 
names,  or  put  them  out  of  their  places.  Momentilla  and 
the  watch,  Zephyretta  and  the  fan,  Crispissa  and  the 
lock  of  hair,  Brillante  and  the  diamond  drops,  are  so  in- 
timately associated,  that  they  necessarily  recur  together 
in  the  memory.  The  following  celebrated  lines  on  Envy, 
some  people  will  find  easy,  and  others  difficult,  to  learn 
by  heart : — 

"  Envy  will  merit,  as  its  shade,  pursue ; 
But,  like  a  shadow,  proves  the  substance  true ; 
For  envi'd  wit,  like  Sol  eclips'd,  makes  known" 
Th'  opposing  body's  grossness,  not  its  own. 
When  first  that  sun  too  pow'rful  beams  displays, 
It  draws  up  vapour,  which  obscures  its  rays ; 
But  ev'n  those  clouds  at  last  adorn  its  way, 
Reflect  new  glories,  and  augment  the  day." 

The  flow  of  these  lines  is  not  particularly  easy  ;  those 
who  trust  merely  to  the  power  of  reiteration  in  getting 
them  by  rote,  will  find  the  task  difficult;  those  who 
seize  the  ideas,  will  necessarily  recollect  their  order, 
and  the  sense  will  conduct  them  to  their  proper  places 
with  certainty  ;  they  cannot,  for  instance,  make  the 
clouds  adorn  the  sun's  rays  before  the  sun's  powerful 
beams  have  drawn  up  the  vapours.  This  fixes  the  place 
of  the  four  last  lines.  The  simile  of  merit  and  the 
sun,  and  envy  and  the  clouds,  keeps  each  idea  in  its 
35 


410  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

order ;  if  any  one  escapes,  it  is  easily  missed,  and  easily 
recalled. 

We  seldom  meet  with  those  who  can  give  us  an  ac- 
curate account  of  their  own  thoughts  ;  it  is,  therefore, 
difficult  to  tell  the  different  ways  in  which  different  peo- 
ple manage  their  memory.  We  judge  by  the  effects  fre- 
quently, that  causes  are  the  same,  which  sometimes  are 
entirely  different.  Thus,  we  in  common  conversation 
should  say,  that  two  people  had  an  equally  good  mem- 
ory, who  could  repeat  with  equal  exactness  any 
thing  which  they  had  heard  or  read.  But  in  their  meth- 
ods of  remembering,  these  persons  might  differ  essen- 
tially; the  one  might  have  exerted  much  more  judg- 
ment and  ingenuity  in  the  conduct  of  his  memory  than 
the  other,  and  might  thus  have  not  only  fatigued  him- 
self less,  but  might  have  improved  his  understanding, 
while  the  other  learned  merely  by  rote.  When  Dr. 
Johnson  reported  the  parliamentary  debates  for  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine,  his  judgment,  his  habit  of  attend- 
ing to  the  order  in  which  ideas  follow  each  other 
in  reasoning,  his  previous  knowledge  of  the  characters 
and  style  of  the  different  speakers,  must  considerably 
have  assisted  his  memory.  His  taste  for  literary  com- 
position must  have  shown  him  instantly  where  any 
argument  or  allusion  was  misplaced.  A  connecting 
phrase,  or  a  link  in  a  chain  of  reasoning,  is  missed  as 
readily  by  a  person  used  to  writing  and  argument,  as  a 
word  in  a  line  of  poetry  is  missed  by  a  poetic  ear.  If 
any  thing  has  escaped  the  memory  of  persons  who  re- 
member by  general  classification,  they  are  not  only  by 
their  art  able  to  discover  that  something  is  missing,  but 
they  have  a  general  direction  where  to  find  it ;  they 
know  to  what  class  of  ideas  it  must  belong ;  they  can 
hunt  from  generals  to  particulars,  till  they  are  sure  at 
last  of  tracing  and  detecting  the  deserter ;  they  have 
certain  signs  by  which  they  know  the  object  of  which 
they  are  in  search,  and  they  trust  with  more  certainty 
to  these  characteristics  than  to  the  mere  vague  recol- 
lection of  having  seen  it  before.  We  feel  disposed  to 
trust  the  memory  of  those  who  can  give  us  some  reason 
for  what  they  remember.  If  they  can  prove  to  us  that 
their  assertion  could  not,  consistently  with  other  facts, 
be  false,  we  admit  the  assertion  into  the  rank  of  facts, 
and  their  judgment  thus  goes  surety  for  their  memory. 
The  following  advertisement  (taken  from  the  Star  of 


MKMORY    AND    INVKNTION.  411 

the  <51st  September,  1796)  may  show  that  experience 
justifies  these  theoretic  notions  : 

"  LITERATURE. 

"  A  gentleman  capable  of  reporting  the  debates  in 
parliament,  is  wanted  for  a  London  newspaper  A  busi- 
ness of  no  such  great  difficulty  as  is  generally  imagined 
by  those  unacquainted  with  it.  A  tolerable  good  style, 
and  facility  of  composition,  as  well  as  a  facility  of 
writing,  together  with  a  good  memory  (not  an  extraor- 
dinary one)  are  all  the  necessary  requisites.  If  a  gen- 
tleman writes  shorthand,  it  is  an  advantage ;  but  mem- 
ory and  composition  are  more  important. 

"  The  advertiser,  conceiving  that  many  gentlemen, 
either  in  London  or  at  the  universities,  or  in  other  parts 
of  the  kingdom,  may  think  such  a  situation  desirable, 
takes  this  public  method  of  enabling  them  to  obtain  it. 
The  salary,  which  will  vary  according  to  the  talents  of 
the  reporter,  will  at  least  afford  a  genteel  subsistence, 
and  the  business  need  not  interrupt  the  pursuit  of  stud- 
ies necessary  for  a  mure  important  profession.  A  gen- 
tleman who  has  never  tried  parliamentary  reporting,  will  be 
preferred  by  the  advertiser,  because  he  has  observed,  that 
those  who  have  last  attempted  it  are  now  the  best  reporters" 

In  the  common  mode  of  education,  great  exactness 
of  repetition  is  required  from  pupils.  This  seems  to 
be  made  a  matter  of  too  much  importance.  There  are 
circumstances  in  life,  in  which  this  talent  is  useful;  but 
its  utility,  perhaps,  we  shall  find  upon  examination,  is 
overrated. 

In  giving  evidence  of  words,  dates,  and  facts,  in  a 
court  of  justice,  the  utmost  precision  is  requisite.  The 
property,  lives,  and  characters  of  individuals,  depend 
upon  this  precision. 

But  we  must  observe,  that  after  long  detailed  evi- 
dence has  been  given  by  a  number  of  witnesses,  an  ad- 
vocate separates  the  material  from  the  immaterial  cir- 
cumstances, and  the  judge  in  his  charge  again  compres- 
ses the  arguments  of  the  counsel,  so  that  much  of  what 
has  been  said  during  the  trial  might  as  well  have  been 
omitted.  All  these  superfluous  ideas  were  remembered 
to  no  purpose.  A  witness  sometimes,  if  he  be  per- 
mitted, would  tell  not  only  all  that  he  remembers  of  the 
circumstances  about  which  he  is  examined,  but  also  a 
number  of  other  circumstances,  which  are  casually 
S  2 


412  PKACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

associated  with  these  in  his  memory.  An  able  advo- 
cate rejects,  by  a  quickness  of  judgment  which  appears 
like  intuition,  all  that  is  irrelevant  to  his  argument  and 
his  cause ;  and  it  is  by  this  selection  that  his  memory, 
in  the  evidence,  perhaps,  of  twenty  different  people,  is 
able  to  retain  all  that  is  useful.  When  this  heterogene- 
ous mass  of  evidence  is  classed  by  his  perspicuous  ar- 
rangement, his  audience  feel  no  difficulty  either  in 
understanding  or  recollecting  all  which  had  before 
appeared  confused.  Thus  the  exercise  of  the  judgment 
saves  much  of  the  labour  of  memory ;  labour  which  is  not 
merely  unnecessary,  but  hurtful  to  our  understanding. 

In  making  observations  upon  subjects  which  are  new 
to  us,  we  must  be  content  to  use  our  memory  unassisted 
at  first  by  our  reason ;  we  must  treasure  up  the  ore  and 
rubbish  together,  because  we  cannot  immediately  dis- 
tinguish them  from  each  other.  But  the  sooner  we  can 
separate  them,  the  better.  In  the  beginning  of  all  ex- 
perimental sciences,  a  number  of  useless  particulars  are 
recorded,  because  they  are  not  known  to  be  useless ; 
when,  by  comparing  these,  a  few  general  principles  are 
discovered,  the  memory  is  immediately  relieved,  the 
judgment  and  inventive  faculty  have  power  and  liberty 
to  work,  and  then  a  rapid  progress  and  great  discoveries 
are  made.  It  is  the  misfortune  of  those  who  first  cul- 
tivate new  sciences,  that  their  memory  is  overloaded  ; 
but  if  those  who  succeed  to  them  submit  to  the  same 
senseless  drudgery,  it  is  not  their  misfortune,  but  their 
fault.  Let  us  look  over  the  history  of  those  who  have 
made  discoveries  and  inventions,  we  shall  perceive,  that 
it  has  been  by  rejecting  useless  ideas  that  they  have 
first  cleared  their  way  to  truth.  Dr.  Priestley's  His- 
tories of  Vision  and  of  Electricity,  are  as  useful  when 
we  consider  them  as  histories  of  the  human  mind,  as 
when  we  read  them  as  histories  of  science.  Dr.  Priest- 
ley has  published  a  catalogue  of  books,*  from  which 
he  gathered  his  materials.  The  pains,  he  tells  us,  that 
it  cost  him  to  compress  and  abridge  the  accounts  which 
ingenious  men  have  given  of  their  own  experiments, 
teach  us  how  much  our  progress  in  real  knowledge  de- 
pends upon  rejecting  all  that  is  superfluous.  When  Si- 
monides  offered  to  teach  Themistocles  the  art  of  mem- 
ory, Themistocles  answered,  "  Rather  teach  me  the  art 
of  forgetting ;  for  I  find  that  I  remember  much  that  I 

*  At  the  end  of  the  History  of  Vision. 


MEMORY    AND    JNVENTION.  413 

had  better  forget,  and  forget  (consequently}  some  things 
which  I  wish  to  remember." 

When  any  discovery  or  invention  is  completed,  we  are 
frequently  astonished  at  its  obvious  simplicity.  The 
ideas  necessary  to  the  discovery  are  seldom  so  numer- 
ous as  to  fatigue  our  memory.  Memory  seems  to  have 
been  useful  to  inventors  only  as  it  presented  a  few  ideas 
in  a  certain  happy  connexion,  as  it  presented  them 
faithfully  and  distinctly  to  view  in  the  proper  moment. 
If  we  wish  for  examples  of  the  conduct  of  the  under- 
standing, we  need  only  look  into  Dr.  Franklin's  works. 
He  is  so  free  from  all  affectation,  he  lays  his  mind  so 
fairly  before  us,  that  he  is,  perhaps,  the  best  example 
we  can  select.  Those  who  are  used  to  look  at  objects 
in  a  microscope,  say,  that  full  as  much  depends  upon  the 
object's  being  well  prepared  for  inspection,  as  upon  the 
attention  of  the  observer,  or  the  excellence  of  the  glass. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  us,  in  looking  over  Dr. 
Franklin's  works,  is  the  variety  of  his  observations  upon 
different  subjects.  We  might  imagine  that  a  very  te- 
nacious and  powerful  memory  was  necessary  to  register 
all  these  ;  but  Dr.  Franklin  informs  us,  that  it  was  his 
constant  practice  to  note  down  every  hint  as  it  occurred 
to  him :  he  urges  his  friends  to  do  the  same  ;  he  observes, 
that  there  is  scarcely  a  day  passes  without  our  hearing 
or  seeing  something  which,  if  properly  attended  to, 
might  lead  to  useful  discoveries.  By  thus  committing 
his  ideas  to  writing,  his  mind  was  left  at  liberty  to  think. 
No  extraordinary  effort  of  memory  was,  even  upon  the 
greatest  occasions,  requisite.  A  friend  wrote  to  him  to  in- 
quire how  he  was  led  to  his  great  discovery  of  the  identity 
of  lightning  and  electricity ;  and  how  he  first  came  to 
think  of  drawing  down  lightning  from  the  clouds.  Dr. 
Franklin  replies,  that  he  could  not  answer  better  than  by 
giving  an  extract  from  the  minutes  he  used  to  keep  of 
the  experiments  he  made,  with  memoranda  of  such  as  he 
purposed  to  make,  the  reasons  for  making  them,  and 
the  observations  that  rose  upon  them.  By  this  extract, 
says  Dr.  Franklin,*  you  will  see  that  the  thought  was 
not  so  much  an  out  of  the  way  one,  but  that  it  might  have 
occurred  to  any  electrician.* 

*  "  Nov.  7,  1749.  Electrical  fluid  agrees  with  lightning  in  these 
particulars.  1.  Giving  light.  2.  Colour  of  the  light.  3.  Crooked 
direction.  4.  Swift  motion,  5.  Being  conducted  by  metals.  6. 


414  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

When  the  ideas  are  arranged  in  clear  order,  as  we 
see  them  in  this  note,  the  analogy  or  induction  to  which 
Dr.  Franklin  was  led  appears  easy.  Why,  then,  had  it 
never  been  made  by  any  other  person  ?  Numbers  of 
ingenious  men  were  at  this  time  intent  upon  electricity. 
The  ideas  which  were  necessary  to  this  discovery 
were  not  numerous  or  complicated.  We  may  remark, 
that  one  analogy  connecting  these  observations  together, 
they  are  more  easily  recollected  ;  and  their  being  writ- 
ten down  for  a  particular  purpose,  on  which  Dr.  Frank- 
lin's mind  was  intent,  must  have  made  it  still  easier  to 
him  to  retain  them. 

The  degree  of  memory  he  was  forced  to  employ,  is 
thus  reduced  to  a  portion  in  which  few  people  are  de- 
fective. Now,  let  us  suppose  that  Dr.  Franklin,  at  the 
time  h«  wrote  his  memorandum,  had  fully  in  his  recol- 
lection every  previous  experiment  that  had  ever  been 
tried  on  electricity  ;  and  not  only  these,  but  the  theo- 
ries, names,  ages,  and  private  history,  of  all  the  men 
who  had  tried  these  experiments;  of  what  advantage 
wouldxthis  have  been  to  him  1  He  must  have  excluded 
all  these  impertinent  ideas  successively  as  they  rose  be- 
fore him,  and  he  must  have  selected  the  fifteen  useful 
observations  which  we  have  mentioned,  from  this  troub- 
lesome multitude.  The  chance  in  such  a  selection 
would  have  been  against  him ;  the  time  employed  in  the 
examination  and  rejection  of  all  the  unnecessary  recol- 
lections, would  have  been  absolutely  wasted. 

We  must  wish  that  it  were  in  our  power,  when  we 
make  observations  upon  nature,  or  when  we  read  the 
reflections  of  others,  to  arrange  our  thoughts  so  as  to 
be  ready  when  we  want  to  reason  or  invent.  When 
cards  are  dealt  to  us,  we  can  sort  our  hand  according  to 
the  known  probabilities  of  the  game,  and  a  new  arrange- 
ment is  easily  made  when  we  hear  what  is  trumps. 

In  collecting  and  sorting  Observations,  Dr.  Franklin 
particularly  excelled  ;  therefore  we  may  safely  con- 
Crack 'or  noise  in  exploding.  7.  Subsisting  in  water  or  ice.  8. 
Rending  bodies  it  passes  through.  9.  Destroying  animals.  10. 
Melting  metals.  11.  Firing  inflammable  substances.  12.  Sulphure- 
ous smell.  The  electric  fluid  is  attracted  by  points.  We  do  not 
know  whether  this  property  is  in  lightning.  But  since  they  agree 
in  all  the  particulars  wherein  we  can  already  compare  them,  is  it 
not  probable  they  agree  likewise  in  this  ?  Let  the  experiment  "be 
made." — Dr.  Franklin's  Letters,  page  322. 


MF.MOn       AND    INV    NTH  N.  415 

T'mue  to  take  him  for  our  example.  Wherever  he  hap- 
pened to  be,  in  a  boat,  in  a  mine,  in  a  printer's  shop,  in 
a  crowded  city  or  in  the  country,  in  Europe  or  America, 
he  displayed  the  same  activity  of  observation.  When 
any  thing,  however  trifling,  struck  him  which  he  could 
not  account  for,  he  never  rested  till  he  had  traced  the 
effect  to  its  cause.  Thus,  after  having  made  one  remark, 
he  had  fresh  motive  to  collect  facts,  either  to  confirm 
or  refute  an  hypothesis ;  his  observations  tending  con- 
sequently to  some  determinate  purpose,  they  were  ar- 
ranged in  the  moment  they  were  made,  in  the  most 
commodious  manner,  both  for  his  memory  and  inven- 
tion ;  they  were  arranged  either  according  to  their  ob- 
vious analogies,  or  their  relation  to  each  other  as  cause 
and  effect.  He  had  two  useful  methods  of  judging  of 
the  value  of  his  own  ideas ;  he  either  considered 
how  they  could  be  immediately  applied  to  practical 
improvements  in  the  arts,  or  how  they  could  lead 
to  the  solution  of  any  of  the  great  problems  in  science. 
Here  we  must  again  observe,  that  judgment  saved  the 
labour  of  memory.  A  person  who  sets  about  to  collect 
facts  at  random,  is  little  better  than  a  magpie,  who  picks 
up  and  lays  by  any  odd  bits  of  money  he  can  light  upon, 
without  knowing  their  use. 

Miscellaneous  observations  which  are  made  by  those 
who  have  no  philosophy,  may  accidentally  lead  to  some- 
thing useful ;  but  here  we  admire  the  good  fortune,  and 
not  the  genius,  of  the  individuals  who  make  such  dis- 
coveries :  these  are  prizes  drawn  from  the  lottery  of 
science,  which  ought  not  to  seduce  us  from  the  paths 
of  sober  industry.  How  long  may  an  observation,  for- 
tunately made,  continue  to  be  useless  to  mankind, 
merely  because  it  has  not  been  reasoned  upon !  The 
trifling  observation,  that  a  straight  stick  appears  bent  in 
water,  was  made  many  hundred  years  before  the  reason 
of  that  appearance  was  discovered  !  The  invention  of 
the  telescope  might  have  been  made  by  any  person  who 
could  have  pursued  this  slight  observation  through  all 
its  consequences. 

Having  now  defined,  or  rather  described,  what  we 
mean  by  a  good  memory,  we  may  consider  how  the 
memory  should  be  cultivated.  In  children,  as  well  as 
in  men,  the  strength  of  that  habit,  or  perhaps  of  that 
power  of  the  mind,  which  associates  ideas  together, 
varies  considerably.  It  is  probable  that  this  difference 


416  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

may  depend  sometimes  upon  organization,  A  child 
who  is  born  with  any  defect  in  his  ey*s,  cannot  possi- 
bly have  the  same  pleasure  in  objects  of  sight  which 
those  enjoy  who  have  strong  eyes :  ideas  associated 
with  these  external  objects  are,  therefore,  not  asso- 
ciated with  pleasure,  and,  consequently,  they  are  not 
recollected  with  any  sensations  of  pleasure.  An  inge- 
nious writer*  supposes  that  all  the  difference  of  capa- 
city among  men  ultimately  depends  on  their  original 
power  of  feeling  pleasure  or  pain,  and  their  consequent 
different  habits  of  attention. 

When  there  is  any  defect  in  a  child's  organization, 
we  must  have  recourse  to  physics,  and  not  to  meta- 
physics ;  but  even  among  children  who  are  apparently 
in  the  full  possession  of  all  their  senses,  we  see  very 
different  degrees  ef  vivacity  :  those  who  have  most  vi- 
vacity seldom  take  delight  in  repeating  their  ideas; 
they  are  more  pleased. with  novelty  than  prone  to  habit. 
Those  children  who  are  deficient  in  vivacity  are  much 
disposed  to  the  easy,  indolent  pleasure,  of  repetition  ;  it 
costs  them  less  exertion  to  say  or  do  the  same  thing 
over  again,  than  to  attempt  any  thing  new ;  they  are 
uniformly  good  subjects  to  habit,  because  novelty  has 
no  charms  to  seduce  their  attention. 

The  education  of  the  memory  in  these  two  classes 
of  children  ought  not  to  be  the  same.  Those  who  are 
disposed  to  repetition  should  not  be  indulged  in  it,  be- 
cause it  will  increase  their  indolence  ;  they  should  be 
excited  by  praise,  by  example,  by  sympathy,  and  by  all 
the  strongest  motives  that  we  can  employ.  Their  in- 
terest in  every  thing  around  them  must  by  all  means  be 
increased  :  when  they  show  eagerness  about  anything, 
no  matter  what  it  is,  we  may  then  exercise  their 
memory  upon  that  subject  with  some  hopes  of  success. 
It  is  of  importance  that  they  should  succeed  in  their 
first  trials,  otherwise  they  will  be  discouraged  from  re- 
peating their  attempts,  and  they  will  distrust  their  own 
memory  in  future.  The  fear  of  not  remembering  will 
occupy,  and  agitate,  and  weaken  their  minds ;  they 
should,  therefore,  be  animated  by  hope.  If  they  fail,  at 
all  events  let  them  not  be  reproached ;  the  mortification 
they  naturally  feel  is  sufficient ;  nor  should  they  be  left 

dwell  upon  their  disappointment ;  they  should  have 

*  Helvetius,  "  Siar  1'Esprit," 


MEMORY    AND    INVENTION.  417 

a  fresh  and  easier  trial  given  to  them,  that  they  may  re- 
cover their  own  self-complacency  as  expeditiously  as 
possible.  It  may  be  said  that  there  are  children  of 
such  a  sluggish  temperament,  that  they  feel  no  pleasure 
in  success,  and  no  mortification  in  perceiving  their  own 
mental  deficiencies.  There  are  few  children  of  this 
description :  scarcely  any,  perhaps,  -whose  defects  have 
not  been  increased  by  education.  Exertion  has  been 
made  so  painful  to  them,  that  at  length  they  have  sunk 
into  apathy,  or  submitted  in  despair  to  the  eternal 
punishment  of  shame. 

The  mistaken  notion  that  the  memory  must  be  exer- 
cised only  in  books,  has  been  often  fatal  to  the  pupils  of 
literary  people.  We  remember  best  those  things  which 
interest  us  most ;  which  are  useful  to  us  in  conversa- 
tion ;  in  our  daily  business  or  amusement.  So  do  chil- 
dren. On  these  things  we  should  exercise  their  memory. 
Tell  a  boy  who  has  lost  his  top,  to  remember  at  such  a 
particular  time  to  put  you  in  mind  of  it,  and  if  he  does, 
that  you  will  give  him  another,  he  will  probably  remem- 
ber your  request  after  this  better  than  you  will  your- 
self. Affectionate  children  will  easily  extend  their  recol- 
lective  memories  in  the  service  of  their  friends  and 
companions.  "  Put  me  in  mind  to  give  your  friend 
what  he  asked  for,  and  I  will  give  it  to  him  if  you  re- 
member it  at  the  right  time."  It  will  be  best  to  manage 
these  affairs  so  that  convenience,  and  not  caprice,  shall 
appear  to  be  your  motive  for  the  requests.  The  time 
and  place  should  be  precisely  fixed,  and  something 
should  be  chosen  which  is  likely  to  recall  your  request 
at  the  appointed  time.  If  you  say,  put  me  in  mind  of 
such  a  thing  the  moment  the  cloth  is  taken  away  after 
dinner ;  or  as  soon  as  candles  are  brought  into  the 
room  ;  or  when  I  go  by  such  a  shop  in  our  walk  this 
evening ;  here  are  things  mentioned  which  will  much 
assist  the  young  remembrancer  :  the  moment  the  cloth 
is  taken  away,  or  the  candles  come,  he  will  recollect, 
from  association,  that  something  is  to  be  done ;  that  he 
has  something  to  do ;  and  presently  he  will  make  out 
what  that  something  is. 

A  good  memory  for  business  depends  upon  local,  well- 
arranged  associations.  The  man  of  business  makes  an 
artificial  memory  for  himself  out  of  the  trivial  occur- 
rences of  the  day,  and  the  hours  as  they  pass  recall 
their  respective  occupations.  Children  can  acquire 
S3 


418  -PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

these  habits  very  early  in  their  education  ;  they  are 
eager  to  give  their  companions  an  account  of  any  thing 
they  have  seen  or  heard ;  their  tutors  should  become 
their  companions,  and  encourage  them  by  sympathy  to 
address  these  narrations  to  them.  Children  who  for- 
get their  lessons  in  chronology  and  their  pence  tables, 
can  relate  with  perfect  accuracy  any  circumstances 
which  have  interested  themselves.  This  shows  that 
there  is  no  deficiency  in  their  capacity.  Every  one 
who  has  had  any  experience  of  the  pleasure  of  talking, 
knows  how  intimately  it  is  connected  with  the  pleas- 
ure of  being  listened  to.  The  auditors,  consequently, 
possess  supreme  power  over  narrative  childhood  ;  with- 
out using  any  artifice,  by  simply  showing  attention  to 
well-arranged  and  well-recollected  narratives,  and  ceas- 
ing to  attend  when  the  young  orator's  memory  and  story 
become  confused,  he  will  naturally  be  excited  to  arrange 
his  ideas.  The  order  of  time  is  the  first  and  easiest 
principle  of  association  to  help  the  memory.  This,  till 
young  people  acquire  the  ideas  of  cause  and  effect,  will 
be  their  favourite  mode  of  arrangement.  Things  that 
happen  at  the  same  time,  things  that  are  said,  thoughts 
that  have  occurred  at  the  same  time,  will  recur  to  the 
mind  together.  We  may  observe,  that  ill-educated 
people  continue  through  life  to  remember  things  by 
this  single  association;  and,  consequently,  there  is  a 
heterogeneous  collection  of  ideas  in  their  mind,  which 
have  no  rational  connexion  with  each  other;  crowds 
which  have  accidentally  met,  and  are  forced  to  live  for 
ever  together. 

A  vulgar  witness,  when  he  is  examined  about  his 
memory  of  a  particular  fact,  gives  as  a  reason  for  his 
remembering  it,  a  relation  of  a  number  of  other  cir- 
cumstances, which  he  tells  you  happened  at  the  same 
time  ;  or  he  calls  to  witness  any  animate  or  inanimate 
objects  which  he  happened  to  see  at  the  same  time. 
All  these  things  are  so  joined  with  the  principal  fact  in 
his  mind,  that  his  remembering  them  distinctly  seems  to 
him,  and  he  expects  will  seem  to  others,  demonstrative 
of  the  truth  and  accuracy  of  his  principal  assertion. 
When  a  lawyer  tells  him  he  has  nothing  to  do  with 
these  ideas,  he  is  immediately  at  a  stand  in  his  nar- 
rative ;  he  can  recollect  nothing,  he  is  sure  of  nothing ; 
he  has  no  reason  to  give  for  his  belief,  unless  he  may 
say  that  it  was  Michaelmas-day  when  such  a  thing  hap- 


MEMORY    AND    INVKNTION  419 

pened,  that  he  had  a  goose  for  dinner  that  day,  or  that 
he  had  a  new  wig.  Those  who  have  more  enlarged 
minds  seldom  produce  these  strange  reasons  for  re- 
membering facts.  Indeed,  no  one  can  reason  clearly, 
whose  memory  has  these  foolish  habits ;  the  ill-matched 
ideas  are  inseparably  joined,  and  hence  they  imagine 
there  is  some  natural  connexion  between  them.  Hence 
arise  those  obstinate  prejudices  which  no  arguments 
can  vanquish. 

To  prevent  children  from  arguing  ill,  we  must,  there- 
fore, take  care,  in  exercising  their  memory,  to  discour- 
age them  in  this  method  of  proving  that  they  remember 
one  thing  by  telling  us  a  number  of  others  which  hap- 
pened at  the  same  time  ;  rather  let  them  be  excited  to 
bring  their  reasoning  faculty  into  play  in  support  of 
their  memory.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  a  child  had 
mislaid  his  hat,  and  was  trying  to  recollect  where  he 
had  put  it.  He  first  may  recollect,  from  the  association 
of  time,  that  he  bad  the  hat  the  last  time  he  went  out ; 
but  when  he  wants  to  recollect  when  that  time  was,  he 
had  better  go  back,  if  he  can,  to  his  motive  for  going 
out:  this  one  idea  will  bring  a  number  of  others  in 
right  order  into  his  mind.  He  went  out,  suppose,  to 
fetch  his  kite,  which  he  was  afraid  would  be  wet  by  a 
shower  of  rain ;  then  the  boy  recollects  that  his  hat 
must  have  been  wet  by  the  same  rain,  and  that  when 
he  came  in,  instead  of  hanging  it  up  in  its  usual  place, 
it  was  put  before  the  fire  to  be  dried.  What  fire,  is  the 
next  question,  &c. 

Such  an  instance  as  this  may  appear  very  trivial ;  but 
children  whose  minds  are  well  managed  about  trifles, 
will  retain  good  habits  when  they  are  to  think  about 
matters  of  consequence.  By  exercising  the  memory 
in  this  manner  about  things,  instead  of  about  books  and 
lessons,  we  shall  not  disgust  and  tire  our  pupils,  nor 
shall  we  give  the  false  notion  that  all  knowledge  is 
acquired  by  reading. 

Long  before  children  read  fluently  for  their  own 
amusement,  they  like  to  hear  others  read  aloud  to  them, 
because  they  have  then  the  entertainment  without  the 
labour.  We  may  exercise  their  memory  by  asking  for 
an  account  of  what  they  have  heard.  But  let  them 
never  be  required  to  repeat  in  the  words  of  the  book, 
or  even  to  preserve  the  same  arrangement ;  let  them 
speak  in  words  of  their  own,  and  arrange  their  ideas  to 


420  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

their  own  plan ;  this  will  exercise  at  once  their  judg- 
ment, invention,  and  memory. 

"  Try  if  you  can  explain  to  me  what  I  have  just  been 
explaining  to  you,"  a  sensible  tutor  will  frequently  say 
to  his  pupils ;  and  he  will  suffer  them  to  explain  in  a 
different  manner  from  himself;  he  will  only  require 
them  to  remember  what  is  essential  to  the  explanation. 
In  such  repetitions  as  these  the  mind  is  active,  there- 
fore it  will  strengthen  and  improve. 

Children  are  all,  more  or  less,  pleased  with  the  per- 
ception of  resemblances  and  of  analogy.  This  pro- 
pensity assists  us  much  in  the  cultivation  of  the  memory; 
but  it  must  be  managed  with  discretion,  or  it  will  injure 
the  other  powers  of  the  understanding.  There  is,  in 
some  minds,  a  futile  love  of  tracing  analogies,  which 
leads  to  superstition,  to  false  reasoning,  and  false  taste. 
The  quick  perception  of  resemblances  is,  in  other 
minds,  productive  of  wit,  poetic  genius,  and  scientific 
invention.  The  difference  between  these  two  classes 
depends  upon  this — the  one  has  more  judgment,  and 
more  the  habit  of  using  it,  than  the  other.  Children 
who  are  pleased  by  trifling  coincidences,  by  allusions 
and  similitudes,  should  be  taught  with  great  care  to 
reason :  when  once  they  perceive  the  pleasure  of  de- 
monstration, they  will  not  be  contented  with  the  inac- 
curacy of  common  analogies.  A  tutor  is  often  tempted 
to  teach  pupils,  who  are  fond  of  allusions,  by  means  of 
them,  because  he  finds  that  they  remember  well  what- 
ever suits  their  taste  for  resemblances.  By  following 
the  real  analogies  between  different  arts  and  sciences, 
and  making  use  of  the  knowledge  children  have  on  one 
subject  to  illustrate  another,  we  may  at  once  amuse 
their  fancy,  and  cultivate  their  memory  with  advantage. 
Ideas  laid  up  in  this  manner,  will  recur  in  the  same 
order,  and  will  be  ready  for  farther  use.  When  two 
ideas  are  remembered  by  their  mutual  connexion,  surely 
it  is  best  that  they  should  both  of  them  be  substantially 
useful ;  and  not  that  one  should  attend  merely  to  answer 
for  the  appearance  of  the  other. 

As  men  readily  remember  those  things  which,  are 
every  day  useful  to  them  in  business,  what  relates  to 
their  amusements,  or  to  their  favourite  tastes  in  arts, 
sciences,  or  literature  ;  so  children  find  no  difficulty  in 
remembering  every  thing  which  mixes  daily  with  their 
little  pleasures.  They  value  knowledge,  which  is  use- 


MEMORY    AND    INVENTION.  421 

ful  and  agreeable  to  them,  as  highly  as  we  do ;  but  they 
consider  only  the  present,  and  we  take  the  future  into 
our  estimate.  Children  feel  no  interest  in  half  the 
things  that  are  committed,  with  the  most  solemn  recom- 
mendations, to  the  care  of  their  memory.  It  is  in  vain 
to  tell  them,  "  You  must  remember  such  a  thing,  because 
it  will  be  useful  to  you  when  you  grow  up  to  be  a  man." 
The  child  feels  like  a  child,  and  has  no  idea  of  what  he 
may  feel  when  he  grows  up  to  be  a  man.  He  tries  to 
remember  what  he  is  desired,  perhaps,  because  he 
wishes  to  please  his  wiser  friends  ;  but  if  the  ideas  are 
remote  from  his  everyday  business,  if  nothing  recall 
them  but  voluntary  exertion,  and  if  he  be  obliged  to 
abstract  his  little  soul  from  every  thing  it  holds  dear, 
before  he  can  recollect  his  lessons,  they  will  have  no 
hold  upon  his  memory  ;  he  will  feel  that  recollection  is 
too  operose,  and  he  will  enjoy  none  of  the  "  pleasures 
of  memory." 

To  induce  children  to  exercise  their  memory,  we 
must  put  them  in  situations  where  they  may  be  imme- 
diately rewarded  for  their  exertion.  We  must  create 
an  interest  in  their  minds— nothing  uninteresting  is 
long  remembered.  In  a  large  and  literary  family,  it 
will  not  be  difficult  to  invent  occupations  for  children 
which  may  exercise  all  their  faculties.  Even  the  con- 
versation of  such  a  family  will  create  in  their  minds  a 
desire  for  knowledge ;  what  they  hear,  will  recall  to 
their  memory  what  they  read ;  and  if  they  are  encour- 
aged to  take  a  reasonable  share  in  conversation,  they 
will  acquire  the  habit  of  listening  to  every  thing  that 
others  say.  By  permitting  children  to  talk  freely  of 
what  they  read,  we  are  more  likely  to  improve  their 
memory  for  books,  than  by  exacting  from  them  formal 
repetitions  of  lessons. 

Dr.  Johnson,  who  is  said  to  have  had  an  uncommonly 
good  memory,  tells  us  that  when  he  was  a  boy,  he  used, 
after  he  had  acquired  any  fresh  knowledge  from  his 
books,  to  run  and  tell  it  to  an  old  woman,  of  whom  he 
was  very  fond.  This  exercise  was  so  agreeable  to  him, 
that  it  imprinted  what  he  read  upon  his  memory. 

La  Gaucherie,  one  of  the  preceptors  of  Henry  IV., 
having  found  that  he  had  to  do  with  a  young  prince  of 
an  impatient  mind  and  active  genius,  little  suited  to 
sedentary  studies,  instead  of  compelling  his  pupil  to 
read,  taught  him  by  means  of  conversation :  anecdotes 
36 


422  PRACTICAL  KDUCATION. 

of  heroes,  and  the  wise  sayings  of  ancient  philosophers, 
were  thus  imprinted  upon  the  mind  of  this  prince.  It 
is  said  that  Henry  IV.  applied,  in  his  subsequent  life, 
all  the  knowledge  he  had  acquired  in  this  manner, 
so  happily,  that  learned  men  were  surprised  at  his 
memory.* 

By  these  observations  we  by  no  means  would  insin- 
uate, that  application  to  books  is  unnecessary.  We  are 
sensible  that  accurate  knowledge  upon  any  subject  can- 
not be  acquired  by  superficial  conversation  ;  that  it  can 
be  obtained  only  by  patient  application.  But  we  mean 
to  point  out,  that  an  early  taste  for  literature  may  be 
excited  in  children  by  conversation ;  and  that  their 
memory  should  be  first  cultivated  in  the  manner  which 
will  give  them  the  least  pain.  When  there  is  motive 
for  application,  and  when  habits  of  industry  have  been 
gradually  acquired,  we  may  securely  trust  that  our 
pupils  will  complete  their  own  education.  Nor  should 
we  have  reason  to  fear,  that  those  who  have  a  good 
memory  for  all  other  things,  should  not  be  able  to  re- 
tain all  that  is  worth  remembering  in  books.  Children 
should  never  be  praised  for  merely  remembering  ex- 
actly what  they  read ;  they  should  be  praised  for  select- 
ing with  good  sense  what  is  best  worth  their  attention, 
and  for  applying  what  they  remember  to  useful  pur- 
poses. 

We  have  observed  how  much  the  habit  of  inventing 
increases  the  wish  for  knowledge,  and  promotes  the  in- 
terest men  take  in  a  number  of  ideas  which  are  indif- 
ferent to  uncultivated  and  indolent  people.  It  is  the 
same  with  children.  Children  who  invent,  exercise 
their  memory  with  pleasure,  from  the  immediate  sense 
of  utility  and  success.  A  piece  of  knowledge  which 
they  lay  by  in  their  minds,  with  the  hopes  of  making  use 
of  it  in  some  future  invention,  they  have  more  motives 
for  remembering,  than  what  they  merely  learn  by  rote, 
because  they  are  commanded  to  do  so  by  the  voice  of 
authority. 

(June  19th,  1796.)  S ,  a  boy  of  nine,years  old,  of 

good  abilities,  was  translating  Ovid's  description  of 
envy.  When  he  came  to  the  Latin  word  suffusa,  he  pro- 
nounced it  as  if  it  had  been  spelled  with  a  single  /and  a 
double  s,  sufussa ;  he  made  the  same  mistake  several 

*  See  Preface  to  L'Esprit  des  Remains  consider^. 


MEMORY    AND    INVENTION.  423 

times  :  at  last  his  father,  to  try  whether  it  would  make 
him  remember  the  right  pronunciation,  desired  him  to 
repeat  suffusa  forty  times.  The  boy  did  so.  About 
three  hours  afterward,  the  boy  was  asked  whether  he 
recollected  the  word  which  he  had  repeated  forty  times. 
No,  he  said,  he  did  not ;  but  he  remembered  that  it 
meant  diffused.  His  father  recalled  the  word  to  his 
mind,  by  asking  him  what  letter  it  was  that  he  had 
sounded  as  if  it  had  been  a  double  letter ;  he  said  s. 
And  what  double  letter  did  you  sound  as  if  it  had  been 
single  !  /,  said  the  boy.  Then,  said  his  father,  you  have 
found  out  that  it  was  a  word  in  which  there  were  a 
double  ff  and  a  single  s,  and  that  it  is  the  Latin  for  dif- 
fused. Oh,  suffusa,  said  the  boy. 

This  boy,  who  had  such  difficulty  in  learning  a  single 
Latin  word  by  repeating  it  forty  times,  showed  in  other 
instances  that  he  was  by  no  means  deficient  in  recol- 
lective  memory.  On  the  contrary,  though  he  read  very 
little,  and  seldom  learned  any  thing  by  rote,  he  applied 
happily  any  thing  that  he  read  or  heard  in  conversation. 

(March  31st,  1796.)  His  father  told  him  that  he  had 
this  morning  seen  a  large  horn  at  a  gentleman's  in  the 
neighbourhood.  It  was  found  thirty  spades'  depth  below 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  in  a  bog.  With  the  horn  was 
found  a  carpet,  and  wrapped  up  in  the  carpet  a  lump  of 
tallow.  "  Now,"  said  his  father,  "  how  could  that  lump 
of  tallow  come  there  ?  Or  was  it  tallow,  do  you  think  ? 
Or  what  could  it  be  ?" 

H (a  boy  of  fourteen,  brother  to  S )  said,  he 

thought  it  might  have  been  buried  by  some  robbers, 
after  they  had  committed  some  robbery ;  he  thought 
the  lump  was  tallow. 

S said,  "  Perhaps  some  dead  body  might  have 

been  wrapped  up  in  the  carpet  and  buried  ;  and  the  dead 
body  might  have  turned  into  tallow."* 

"  How  came  you,"  said  his  father,  "  to  think  of  a  dead 
body's  turning  into  tallow  V 

"  You  told  me,"  said  the  boy,  "  you  read  to  me,  I 
mean,  an  account  of  some  dead  bodies  that  had  been 
buried  a  great  many  years,  which  had  turned  into 
tallow." 

"  Spermaceti,"  you  mean  1     "  Yes." 

S had  heard  the  account  he  alluded  to  above  two 

*  See  the  account  in  the  Monthly  Review. 


424  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

months  before  this  time.  No  one  in  company  recol 
lected  it  except  himself,  though  several  had  heard  it. 

Among  the  few  things  which  S had  learned  by 

heart,  was  the  Hymn  to  Adversity.  A  very  slight  cir- 
cumstance may  show  that  he  did  not  get  this  poem 
merely  as  a  tiresome  lesson,  as  children  sometimes 
learn  by  rote  what  they  do  not  understand,  and  which 
they  never  recollect  except  in  the  arduous  moments  of 
formal  repetition. 

A  few  days  after  S had  learned  the  Hymn  to  Ad- 
versity, he  happened  to  hear  his  sister  say  to  a  lady,  "  I 
observed  you  pitied  me  for  having  had  a  whitlow  on  my 
finger  more  than  anybody  else  did,  because  you  have 

had  one  yourself."     S 's  father  asked  him  why  he 

smiled.     "  Because,"  said  S ,  "  I  was  thinking  of  the 

song*  the  hymn  to  Adversity : 

"  '  And  from  her  own,  she  learned  to  melt  at  others'  wo.'  " 

A  recollective  memory  of  books  appears  early  in  chil- 
dren who  are  not  overwhelmed  with  them;  if  the  im- 
pressions made  upon  their  minds  be  distinct,  they  will 
recur  with  pleasure  to  the  memory  when  similar  ideas 
are  presented. 

July,  1796.  S heard  his  father  read  Sir  Brook 

Boothby's  excellent  epitaph  upon  Algernon  Sidney  ;  the 
following  lines  pleased  the  boy  particularly  : 

"  Approach,  contemplate  this  immortal  name, 
Swear  on  this  shrine  to  emulate  his  fame ; 
To  dare,  like  him,  e'en  to  thy  latest  breath, 
Contemning  chains,  and  poverty,  and  death." 

S 's  father  asked  him  why  he  liked  these  lines, 

and  whether  they  put  him  in  mind  of  any  thing  that  he 

had  heard  before.     S said,  "  It  puts  me  in  mind  of 

Hamilcar's  making  his  son  Hannibal  swear  to  hate  the 
Romans   and  love  his  countrymen  eternally.     But  7 
like  this  much  better.     I  think  it  was  exceedingly  fool 
ish  and  wrong  of  Hamilcar  to  make  his  son  swear 
always  to  hate  the  Romans." 

Latin  lessons  are  usually  so  very  disagreeable  to  boys, 
that  tjiey  seldom  are  pleased  with  any  allusions  to  them  ; 
but  by  good  management  in  a  tutor,  even  these  lessons 
may  be  associated  with  agreeable  ideas.  Boys  should 

*  He  fiad  tried  to  sing  it  to  the  tune  of  "  Hope,  thou  nurse  of 
young  desire." 


MEMORY    AND    INVENTION.  425 

be  encouraged  to  talk  and  think  about  what  iiey  learn 
in  Latin,  as  well  as  what  they  read  in  English ;  they 
should  be  allowed  to  judge  of  the  characters  described 
in  ancient  authors,  to  compare  them  with  our  present 
ideas  of  excellence,  and  thus  to  make  some  use  of  their 
learning.  It  will  then  be  not  merely  engraved  upon 
their  memory  in  the  form  "of  lessons,  it  will  be  mingled 
with  their  notions  of  life  and  manners  ;  it  will  occur  to 
them  when  they  converse  and  when  they  act ;  they 
will  possess  the  admired  talent  for  classical  allusion,  as 
well  as  all  the  solid  advantages  of  an  unprejudiced  judg- 
ment. It  is  not  enough  that  gentlemen  should  be  mas- 
ters of  the  learned  languages,  they  must  know  how  to 
produce  their  knowledge  without  pedantry  or  affecta- 
tion. The  memory  may  in  vain  be  stored  with  classi- 
cal precedents,  unless  these  can  be  brought  into  use  in 
speaking  or  writing,  without  the  parade  of  dull  citation 
or  formal  introduction.  "  Sir,"  said  Dr.  Johnson,  to 
some  prosing  tormentor,  "  I  would  rather  a  man  would 
knock  me  down  than  begin  to  talk  to  me  of  the  Punic 
Wars."  A  public  speaker  who  rises  in  the  House  of 
Commons  with  pedantry  prepense  to  quote  Latin  or 
Greek,  is  coughed  or  laughed  down ;  but  the  beautiful 
unpremeditated  classical  allusions  of  Burke  or  Sheridan, 
sometimes  conveyed  in  a  single  word,  seize  the  imagi- 
nation irresistibly.  \ 

Since  we  perceive  that  memory  is  chiefly  useful  as  it 
furnishes  materials  for  invention,  and  that  invention  can 
greatly  abridge  the  mere  labour  of  accumulation,  we 
must  examine  how  the  inventive  faculty  can  be  properly 
exercised.  The  vague  precept,  Cultivate  the  memory 
and  invention  of  young  people  at  the  same  time,  will  not 
inform  parents  how  this  is  to  be  accomplished ;  we 
trust,  therefore,  that  we  may  be  permitted,  contrary  to 
the  custom  of  didactic  writers,  to  illustrate  a  general 
precept  by  a  few  examples ;  and  we  take  these  exam- 
ples from  real  life,  because  we  apprehend  that  fictions, 
however  ingenious,  will  never  advance  the  science  of 
education  so  much  as  simple  experiments. 

No  elaborate  theory  of  invention  shall  here  alarm 
parents.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  inventive 
faculty  can  be  employed  only  on  important  subjects  ;  it 
can  be  exercised  in  the  most  trifling  circumstances  of 
domestic  life.  Scarcely  any  family  can  be  so  unfortu- 
nately situated,  that  they  may  not  employ  the  ingenuity 


426  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

of  their  children  without  violent  exertion,  or  any  grand 
apparatus.  Let  us  only  make  use  of  the  circumstances 
which  happen  every  hour.  Children  are  interested  in 
every  thing  that  is  going  forward.  Building,  or  plant- 
ing, or  conversation,  or  reading ;  they  attend  to  every 
thing,  and  from  every  thing  might  they  with  a  little  as- 
sistance obtain  instruction.  Let  their  useful  curiosity 
be  encouraged;  let  them  make  a  part  of  the  general 
society  of  the  family,  instead  of  being  treated  as  if  they 
had  neither  senses  nor  understanding.  When  any  thing 
is  to  be  done,  let  them  be  asked  to  invent  the  best  way 
of  doing  it.  When  they  see  that  their  invention  be- 
comes immediately  useful,  they  will  take  pleasure  in 
exerting  themselves. 

June  4th,  1796.  A  lady  who  had  been  ruling  pencil 
lines  for  a  considerable  time,  complained  of  its  being  a 
tiresome  operation ;  and  she  wished  that  a  quick  and 
easy  way  of  doing  it  could  be  invented.  Somebody 
present  said  he  had  seen  pens  for  ruling  music  books, 
which  ruled  four  lines  at  a  time ;  and  it  was  asked 
whether  a  leaden  rake  could  not  be  made  to  rule  a  sheet 
of  paper  at  once. 

Mr. said  he  thought  such  a  pencil  would  not  rule 

well;  and  he  called  to  S (the  same  boy  we  men- 
tioned before),  and  asked  him.  if  he  could  invent  any 

method  of  doing  the  business  better.  S took  about 

a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  consider ;  and  he  then  described 
a  little  machine  for  ruling  a  sheet  of  paper  at  a  single 
stroke,  which  his  father  caused  to  be  made  for  him.  It 
succeeded  well,  and  this  success  was  the  best  reward  he 
could  have. 

Another  day  Mr. observed,  that  the  maid  whose 

business  it  was  to  empty  a  bucket  of  ashes  into  an  ash- 
hole,  never  could  be  persuaded  to  do  it,  because  the 
ashes  were  blown  against  her  face  by  the  wind  ;  and  he 
determined  to  invent  a  method  which  should  make  it 
convenient  to  her  to  do  as  she  was  desired.  The  maid 
usually  threw  the  ashes  into  a  heap  on  the  sheltered 
side  of  a  wall ;  the  thing  to  be  done  was,  to  make 
her  put  the  bucket  through  a  hole  in  this  wall,  and  empty 
the  ashes  on  the  other  side.  This  problem  was  given 
to  all  the  children  and  grown  up  persons  in  the  family. 
One  of  the  children  invented  the  shelf,  which,  they  said, 
should  be  like  part  of  the  vane  of  a  winnowing  machine 
which  they  had  lately  seen ;  the  manner  of  placing  this 


MKMORY    AND     INVENTION.  427 

vane,  another  of  the  children  suggested:  both  these 
ideas,  joined  together,  produced  the  contrivance  that 
was  wajited. 

A  little  model  was  made  in  wood  of  this  bucket,  which 
was  a  pretty  toy.  The  thing  itself  was  executed,  and 
was  found  useful. 

June  8th,  1796.  Mr. was  balancing  a  pair  of 

scales  very  exactly,  in  which  he  was  going  to  weigh 
some  opium  :  this  led  to  a  conversation  upon  scales  and 
weighing.  Some  one  said  that  the  dealers  in  diamonds 
must  have  very  exact  scales,  as  the  difference  of  a  grain 

makes  such  a  great  difference  in  their  value.  S 

was  very  attentive  to  this  conversation.  M told 

him,  that  jewellers  always,  if  they  can,  buy  diamonds 
when  the  air  is  light,  and  sell  them  when  it  is  heavy. 

S did  not  understand  the  reason  of  this,  till  his 

father  explained  to  him  the  general  principles  of  hydro- 
statics, and  showed  him  a  few  experiments  with  bodies 
of  different  specific  gravity  :  these  experiments  were 
distinctly  understood  by  everybody  present.  The  boy 
then  observed,  that  it  was  not  fair  of  the  jewellers  to 
buy  and  sell  in  this  manner ;  they  should  not,  said  he, 
use  these  weights.  Diamonds  should  be  the  weights. 
Diamonds  should  be  weighed  against  diamonds. 

November,  1795.  One  day  after  dinner,  the  candles 
had  been  left  for  some  time  without  being  snuffed  ;  and 

Mr. said  he  wished  candles  could  be  made  which 

would  not  require  snuffing. 

Mrs.  ********  thought  of  cutting  the  wick  into  several 
pieces  before  it  was  put  into  the  candle,  that  so,  when  it 
burned  down  to  the  divisions,  the  wick  might  fall  off. 

M thought  that  the  wick  might  be  tied  tight  round 

at  intervals,  before  it  was  put  into  the  candle  ;  that  when 
it  burned  down  to  the  places  where  it  was  tied,  it  would 

snap  off:  but  Mr. objected,  that  the  candle  would 

most  likely  go  out  when  it  had  burned  down  to  her  knots. 
It  was  then  proposed  to  send  a  stream  of  oxygen 

through  the  candle,  instead  of  a  wick.  M asked  if 

some  substance  might  not  be  used  for  wicks  which 

should  burn  into  powder  and  fly  off,  or  sublime.  Mr. 

smiled  at  this,  and  said,  "  Some  substance ;  some  kind  of 
air ;  some  chymical  mixture  .'"  A  person  ignorant  of 
chymistry  always  talks  of  it  as  an  ignorant  person  in 
mechanics  always  says,  "  Oh,  you  can  do  it  somehow 
with  a  spring." 


428  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

As  the  company  could  not  immediately  discover  any 
way  of  making  candles  which  should  not  require  to  be 
snuffed,  they  proceeded  to  invent  ways  of  putting  out  a 
candle  at  a  certain  time  without  hands.  The  younger 
part  of  the  company  had  hopes  of  solving  this  problem, 
and  every  eye  was  attentively  fixed  upon  the  candle. 

"  How  would  you  put  it  out,  S V?  said  Mr. . 

S said,  that  if  a  weight  a  very  little  lighter  than  the 

extinguisher  were  tied  to  a  string,  and  if  the  string  were 
put  over  a  pulley,  and  if  the  extinguisher  were  tied  to 
the  other  end  of  the  string,  and  the  candle  put  exactly 
under  the  extinguisher;  the  extinguisher  would  move 
very,  very  gently  down,  and  at  last  put  out  the  candle. 

Mr. observed,  that  while  it  was  putting  out  the 

candle  there  would  be  a  disagreeable  smell,  because  the 
extinguisher  would  be  a  considerable  time  moving  very, 
very  gently  down,  over  the  candle,  after  the  candle  had 
begun  to  go  out. 

C (a  girl  of  twelve  years  old)  spoke  next.  "  I 

would  tie  an  extinguisher  to  one  end  of  a  thread.  I 
would  put  this  string  through  a  pulley  fastened  to  the 
ceiling ;  the  other  end  of  this  string  should  be  fastened 
to  the  middle  of  another  thread,  which  should  be  strained 
between  two  posts  set  upright  on  each  side  of  the  candle, 
so  that  the  latter  string  might  lean  against  the  candle  at 
any  distance  you  want  below  the  flame.  When  the 
candle  burns  down  to  this  string,  it  will  burn  it  in  two, 
and  the  extinguisher  will  drop  upon  the  candle." 

This  is  the  exact  description  of  the  weaver's  alarm, 
mentioned  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  which 
C had  never  seen  or  heard  of. 

Mr.  — —  now  showed  us  the  patent  extinguisher, 
which  was  much  approved  by  all  the  rival  inventors. 

It  is  very  useful  to  give  children  problems  that  have 
already  been  solved,  because  they  can  immediately  com- 
pare their  own  imperfect  ideas  with  successful  inven- 
tions which  have  actually  been  brought  into  real  use. 
We  know  beforehand  what  ideas  are  necessary  to  com- 
plete the  invention,  and  whether  the  pupil  has  all  the 
necessary  knowledge.  Though  by  the  courtesy  of  poe- 
try, a  creative  power  is  ascribed  to  inventive  genius,  yet 
we  must  be  convinced  that  no  genius  can  invent  without 
materials.  Nothing  can  come  of  nothing.  Invention 
is  nothing  more  than  the  new  combination  of  mate- 
rials. We  must  judge  in  general  of  the  ease  or  diffi- 


MEMORY    AND    INVENTION.  429 

culty  of  any  invention,  either  by  the  number  of  ideas 
necessary  to  be  combined,  or  by  the  dissimilarity  or 
analogy  of  those  ideas.  In  giving  any  problem  to  chil- 
dren, we  should  not  only  consider  whether  they  know 
all  that  is  necessary  upon  the  subject,  but  also,  whether 
that  knowledge  is  sufficiently  familiar  to  their  minds ; 
whether  circumstances  are  likely  to  recall  it;  and  whether 
they  have  a  perfectly  clear  idea  of  the  thing  to  be  done. 
By  considering  all  these  particulars,  we  may  pretty 
nearly  proportion  our  questions  to  the  capacity  of  the 
pupil ;  and  we  may  lead  his  mind  on,  step  by  step,  from 
obvious  to  intricate  inventions. 

July  30th,  1796.     L ,  who  had  just  returned  from 

Edinburgh,  and  had  taken  down,  in  two  large  volumes, 
Dr.  Black's  Lectures,  used  to  read  to  us  part  of  them, 
for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  every  morning  after 
breakfast.  He  was  frequently  interrupted  (which  inter- 
ruptions he  bore  with  heroic  patience)  by  Mr. 's  ex- 
planations and  comments.  When  he  came  to  the  ex- 
pansive power  of  steam,  and  to  the  description  of  the 
different  steam-engines  which  have  been  invented, 
Mr. stopped  to  ask  B ,  C ,  and  S ,  to  de- 
scribe the  steam-engine  in  their  own  words.  They  all 
described  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  show  that  they 
clearly  understood  the  principle  of  the  machine.  Only 
the  general  principle  had  been  explained  to  them. 

L ,  after  having  read  the  description  of  Savary's  and 

Newcomen's  steam-engines,  was  beginning  to  read  the 

description  of  that  invented  by  Mr.  Watt ;  but  Mr. 

stopped  him,  that   he  might  try  whether  any  person 

present   could  invent   it.     Mr.  E thus   stated  the 

difficulty :  "  In  the  old  steam-engine,  cold  water,  you 
know,  is  thrown  into  the  cylinder  to  condense  the  steam ; 
but  in  condensing  the  steam,  the  cold  water  at  the  same 
time  cools  the  cylinder.  Now  the  cylinder  must  be 
heated  again  before  it  can  be  filled  with  steam  ;  for  till 
it  is  heated,  it  will  condense  the  steam.  There  is,  con- 
sequently, a  great  waste  of  heat  and  fuel  in  the  great 
cylinder.  How  can  you  condense  the  steam  without  cool- 
ing the  cylinder  ?" 

S .  "  Let  down  a  cold  tin  tube  into  the  cylinder 

when  you  want  to  condense  the  steam,  and  draw  it  up 
again  as  soon  as  the  steam  is  condensed ;  or,  if  you 
could,  put  a  cylinder  of  ice  up  the  great  tube." 

Some  of  the  company  next    asked  if  a   horizontal 


430  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

Ml 

plate  of  cold  metal,  made  to  slide  up  the  inside  of  the 
cylinder,  would  condense  the  steam.  The  edges  of  the 
plate  only  would  touch  the  cylinder ;  the  surface  of  the 
plate  might  condense  the  steam. 

'*  But,"  said  Mr.  — - ,  "  how  can  you  introduce  and 
withdraw  it  ?" 

C— ^-  (a  girl  of  12)  then  said,  "  I  would  put  a  cold 
vessel  to  condense  the  steam  at  the  top  of  the  cylinder." 

Mr. .  "  So  as  to  touch  the  cylinder,  do  you  mean  ?" 

C .  "  No,  not  so  as  to  touch  the  cylinder,  but  at 

some  distance  from  it." 

Mr. .  "Then  the  cold  air  would  rush  into  the 

cylinder  while  the  steam  was  passing  from  the  cylinder 
to  your  condenser." 

C .  "  But  I  would  cover  in  the  cold  vessel,  and  I 

would  cover  in  the  passage  to  it." 

M .  "  I  have  the  pleasure  of  informing  you,  that 

you  have  invented  part  of  the  great  Mr.  Watt's  improve- 
ment on  the  steam-engine.  You  see  how  it  facilitates 
invention,  to  begin  by  stating  the  difficulty  clearly  to 
the  mind.  This  is  what  every  practical  inventor  does 
when  he  invents  in  mechanics." 

L (smiling.)  "  And  what  /  always  do  in  inventing 

a  mathematical  demonstration." 

To  the  good-natured  reader  we  need  offer  no  apology ; 
to  the  illnatured  we  dare  attempt  none,  for  introducing 
these  detailed  views  of  the  first  attempts  of  young  in- 
vention. They  are  not  exhibited  as  models,  either  to  do 
honour  to  the  tutor  or  his  pupils ;  but  simply  to  show 
how  the  mind  may  be  led  from  the  easiest  steps,  to 
what  are  supposed  to  be  difficult,  in  education.  By  im- 
agining ourselves  to  be  in  the  same  situation  with  chil- 
dren, we  may  guess  what  things  are  difficult  to  them ; 
and  if  we  can  recollect  the  course  of  our  own  minds  in 
acquiring  knowledge  or  in  inventing,  we  may,  by  re- 
tracing the  same  steps,  instruct  others.  The  order  that 
is  frequently  followed  by  authors,  in  the  division  and 
subdivision  of  their  elementary  treatises,  is  not  always 
the  best  for  those  who  are  to  learn.  Such  authors  are 
usually  more  intent  upon  proving  to  the  learned  that 
they  understand  their  subject,  than  upon  communicating 
their  knowledge  to  the  ignorant.  Parents  and  tutors 
must,  therefore,  supply  familiar  oral  instruction,  and 
those  simple,  but  essential  explanations,  which  books 
disdain  or  neglect  to  give.  And  there  is  this  advantage 


MKMORY    AND    INVENTION.  431 

- 

in  all  instruction  given  in  conversation,  that  it  can  be 
made  interesting  by  a  thousand  little  circumstances 
which  are  below  the  dignity  of  didactic  writers.  Grad- 
ually we  may  proceed  from  simple  to  more  complicated 
contrivances.  The  invention  of  experiments  to  deter- 
mine a  theory,  or  to  ascertain  the  truth  of  an  asser- 
tion, must  be  particularly  useful  to  the  understanding. 
Any  person  who  has  attended  to  experiments  in  chym- 
istry  and  natural  philosophy,  must  know  that  invention 
can  be  as  fully  and  elegantly  displayed  upon  these  sub- 
jects, as  upon  any  in  the  fine  arts  or  literature.  There 
is  one  great  advantage  in  scientific  invention ;  it  is  not 
dependant  upon  capricious  taste  for  its  reward.  The 
beauty  and  elegance  of  a  poem  may  be  disputed  by  a 
thousand  amateurs  ;  there  can  be  but  one  opinion  about 
the  truth  of  a  discovery  in  science. 

Independent  of  all  ambition,  there  is  considerable 
pleasure  in  the  pursuit  of  experimental  knowledge. 
Children  especially,  before  they  are  yet  fools  to  fame, 
enjoy  this  substantial  pleasure.  Nor  are  we  to  suppose 
that  children  have  not  capacities  for  such  pursuits  ;  they 
are  peculiarly  suited  to  their  capacity.  They  love  to 
see  experiments  tried,  and  to  try  them.  They  show 
this  disposition  not  only  wherever  they  are  encouraged, 
but  wherever  they  are  permitted  to  show  it  ;  and  if  we 
compare  their  method  of  reasoning  with  the  reasonings 
of  the  learned,  we  shall  sometimes  be  surprised.  They 
have  no  prejudices,  therefore  they  have  the  complete 
use  of  all  their  senses ;  they  have  few  ideas,  but  those 
few  are  distinct;  they  can  be  analyzed  and  compared 
with  ease  :  children,  therefore,  judge  and  invent  better, 
in  proportion  to  their  knowledge,  than  most  grown  up 
people. 

Dr.  Hooke  observes,  that  a  sensible  man,  in  solving 
any  philosophical  problem,  should  always  lean  to  that 
side  which  is  opposite  to  his  favourite  taste.  A  chymist 
is  disposed  to  account  for  every  thing  by  chymical 
means  ;  a  geometrician  is  inclined  to  solve  every  prob- 
lem geometrically  ;  and  a  mechanic  accounts  for  all  the 
phenomena  of  nature  by  the  laws  of  mechanism.  This 
undue  bias  upon  the  minds  of  ingenious  people,  has  fre- 
quently rendered  their  talents  less  useful  to  mankind. 
It  is  the  duty  of  those  who  educate  ingenious  children, 
to  guard  against  this  species  of  scientific  insanity. 

There  are  prejudices  of  another  description,  which  are 


432  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

fatal  to  inventive  genius;  some  of  these  are  usually 
found  to  attend  ignorance,  and  others  sometimes  adhere 
to  the  learned.  Ignorant  people,  if  they  possess  any 
degree  of  invention,  are  so  confident  in  their  own  abili- 
ties, that  they  will  not  take  the  pains  to  inquire  what 
others  have  thought  or  done ;  they  disdain  all  general 
principles,  and  will  rather  scramble  through  some  by- 
path of  their  own  striking  out,  than  condescend  to  be 
shown  the  best  road  by  the  most  enlightened  guide. 
For  this  reason,  self-taught  geniuses,  as  they  are  called, 
seldom  go  beyond  a  certain  point  in  their  own  educa- 
tion, and  the  praise  we  bestow  upon  their  ingenuity  is 
always  accompanied  with  expressions  of  regret :  "  It  is 
a  pity  that  such  a  genius  had  not .  the  advantages  of  a 
good  education." 

The  learned,  on  the  contrary,  who  have  been  bred  up 
in  reverence  for  established  opinions,  and  who  have  felt 
in  many  instances  the  advantage  of  general  principles, 
are  apt  to  adhere  too  pertinaciously  to  their  theories, 
and  hence  they  neglect  or  despise  new  observations. 
How  long  did  the  maxim  that  nature  abhors  a  vacuum, 
content  the  learned  !  And  how  many  discoveries  were 
retarded  by  this  single  false  principle !  For  a  great 
number  of  years  it  was  affirmed  and  believed,  that  all 
objects  were  seen  by  the  intervention  of  visual  rays, 
proceeding  from  the  eye,  much  in  the  same  manner  as 
we  feel  any  object  at  a  distance  from  us  by  the  help  of  a 
stick.*  While  this  absurd  analogy  satisfied  the  mind, 
no  discoveries  were  made  in  vision — none  were  at- 
tempted. A  prepossession  often  misleads  the  industry 
of  active  genius.  Dr.  Hooke,  in  spite  of  the  ridicule 
which  he  met  with,  was  firm  in  his  belief  that  mankind 
would  discover  some  method  of  sailing  in  the  air.  Bal- 
loons have  justified  his  prediction ;  but  all  his  own  in- 
dustry in  trying  experiments  upon  flying  was  wasted, 
because  he  persisted  in  following  a  false  analogy  to  the 
wings  of  birds.  He  made  wings  of  various  sorts  ;  till 
he  took  it  for  granted  that  he  must  learn  to  fly  by  me- 
chanical means  :  had  he  applied  to  chymistry,  he  might 
have  succeeded.  It  is  curious  to  observe  how  nearly 
he  once  touched  upon  the  discovery,  and  yet,  misled  by 
his  prepossessions,  quitted  his  hold.  He  observed 
that  the  air-cellsf  of  fishes  are  filled  with  air,  which 

*  Priestley  on  Vision,  vol.  i.  page  23. 
\  See  Hooke's  Posthumous  Works. 


rttiftlOKV     AND    INVENTION.  433 

buoys  them  up  in  the  water ;  and  he  supposes  that  this 
air  is  lighter  than  common  air.  Had  he  pursued  this 
idea,  he  might  have  invented  balloons ;  but  he  returned 
with  fatal  perseverance  to  his  old  theory  of  wings.  From 
such  facts  we  may  learn  the  power  and  danger  of  preju- 
dice in  the  most  ingenious  minds ;  and  we  shall  be  careful 
to  preserve  our  pupils  early  from  its  blind  dominion. 

The  best  preservation  against  the  presumption  to 
which  ignorance  is  liable,  and  the  best  preservative 
against  the  self-sufficiency  to  which  the  learned  are  sub- 
ject, is  the  habit  of  varying  our  studies  and  occupations. 
Those  who  have  a  general  view  of  the  whole  map  of 
human  knowledge,  perceive  how  many  unexplored  re- 
gions are  yet  to  be  cultivated  by  future  industry  ;  nor 
will  they  implicitly  submit  to  the  reports  of  ignorant 
voyagers.  No  imaginary  pillars  of  Hercules  will  bound 
their  enterprises.  There  is  no  presumption  in  believing 
that  much  more  is  possible  to  science  than  ever  hu- 
man ingenuity  has  executed ;  therefore  young  people 
should  not  be  ridiculed  for  that  sanguine  temper  which 
excites  to  great  inventions.  They  should  be  ridiculed 
only  when  they  imagine  that  they  possess  the  means 
of  doing  things  to  which  they  are  unequal.  The  fear 
of  this  deserved  ridicule  will  stimulate  them  to  acquire 
knowledge,  and  will  induce  them  to  estimate  cautiously 
their  own  powers  before  they  hazard  their  reputation. 
We  need  not  fear  that  this  caution  should  repress  their 
activity  of  mind ;  ambition  will  secure  their  perseve- 
rance, if  they  are  taught  that  every  acquisition  is  within 
the  reach  of  unremitting  industry.  This  is  not  an  opin- 
ion to  be  artfully  inculcated  to  serve  a  particular  pur- 
pose, but  it  is  an  opinion  drawn  from  experience ;  an 
opinion  which  men  of  the  highest  abilities  and  integrity, 
of  talents  and  habits  the  most  dissimilar,  have  confirmed 
by  their  united  testimony.  Helvetius  maintained  that 
no  great  man  ever  formed  a  great  design  which  he  was 
not  also  capable  of  executing. 

Even  where  great  perseverance  is  exercised,  the 
choice  of  the  subjects  on  which  the  inventive  powers 
are  employed  determines,  in  a  great  measure,  their  value : 
therefore,  in  the  education  of  ingenious  children,  we 
should  gradually  turn  their  attention  from  curious  trifles 
to  important  objects.  Boverick,*  who  made  chains  "to 

*  Hooke's  Mycrographia,  p.  6& 
37 


484  PRACTICAL    KDUCATION. 

yoke  a  flea,"  must  have  possessed  exquisite  patience  : 
besides  his  chain  of  two  hundred  links,  with  its  padlock 
and  key,  all  weighing  together  less  than  the  third  part 
of  a  grain,  this  indefatigable  minute  artificer  was  the  ma- 
ker of  a  landau,  which  opened  and  shut  by  springs  :  this 
equipage,  with  six  horses  harnessed  to  it,  a  coachman 
sitting  on  the  box,  with  a  dog  between  his  legs,  four  in- 
side and  two  outside  passengers,  besides  a  postillion 
riding  one  of  the  fore-horses,  was  drawn  with  all  the 
ease  and  safety  imaginable  by  a  well-trained  flea  !  The 
inventor  and  executor  of  this  puerile  machine  bestowed 
on  it,  probably,  as  much  time  as  would  have  sufficed  to 
produce  Watt's  fire-engine,  or  Montgolfier's  balloon.  It 
did  not,  perhaps,  cost  the  Marquis  of  Worcester  more 
exertion  to  draw  out  his  celebrated  century  of  inven- 
tions ;  it  did  not,  perhaps,  cost  Newton  more  to  write 
those  queries  which  Maclaurin  said  he  could  never  read 
without  feeling  his  hair  stand  an  end  with  admiration. 

Brebeuf,  a  French  wit,  wrote  a  hundred  and  fifty 
epigrams  upon  a  painted  lady  ;  a  brother  wit,  fired  with 
emulation,  wrote  upon  the  same  subject  three  hundred 
more,  making,  in  all,  four  hundred  and  fifty  epigrams, 
each  with  appropriate  turns  of  its  own.  Probably  Pope 
and  Parnell  did  not  rack  their  invention  so  much,  or  ex- 
ercise more  industry  in  completing  "The  Rape  of  the 
Lock,"  and  "  The  Rise  of  Woman."  These  will  live 
for  ever  ;  who  will  read  the  four  hundred  and  fifty  epi- 
grams ? 

The  most  effectual  methods  to  discourage  in  young 
people  the  taste  for  frivolous  ingenuity  will  be,  never  to 
admire  these  "  laborious  nothings ;"  to  compare  them 
with  useful  and  elegant  inventions,  and  to  show  that 
vain  curiosities  can  be  but  the  wonder  and  amusement 
of  a  moment.  Children  who  begin  with  trifling  inven- 
tions, may  be  led  from  these  to  general  principles ;  and 
with  their  knowledge  their  ambition  will  necessarily  in- 
crease. It  cannot  be  expected  that  the  most  enlarged 
plan  of  education  could  early  give  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  all  the  sciences;  but  with  their  leading  prin- 
ciples, their  general  history,  their  present  state,  and 
their  immediate  desiderata,*  young  people  may,  and 
ought  to  be,  made  acquainted.  Their  own  industry  will 
afterward  collect  more  precise  information,  and  they 

*  Priestley  has  ably  given  the  desiderata  of  electricity,  vision,  &c. 


TASTE    AND    IMAGINATION.  435 

will  never  waste  their  time  in  vain  studies  and  fruitless 
inventions.  Even  if  the  cultivation  of  the  memory 
were  our  grand  object,  this  plan  of  education  will  suc- 
ceed. When  the  Abbe  de  Longuerue,  whose  prodigious 
memory  we  have  formerly  mentioned,  was  asked  by  the 
Marquis  d'Argenson,  how  he  managed  to  arrange  and 
retain  in  his  head  every  thing  that  entered  it,  and  to 
recollect  every  thing  when  wanted1? — the  abbe  an- 
swered— 

"  Sir,  the  elements  of  every  science  must  be  learned 
while  we  are  very  young ;  the  first  principles  of  every 
language — the  a  b  c,  as  I  may  say,  of  every  kind  of 
knowledge — this  is  not  difficult  in  youth,  especially  as 
it  is  not  necessary  to  penetrate  far ;  simple  notions  are 
sufficient ;  when  once  these  are  acquired,  every  thing 
we  read  afterward  finds  its  proper  place." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

TASTE   AND    IMAGINATION. 

FIGURATIVE  language  seems  to  have  confounded  the 
ideas  of  most  writers  upon  metaphysics.  Imagination, 
Memory,  and  Reason,  have  been  long  introduced  to  our 
acquaintance  as  allegorical  personages,  and  we  have  in- 
sensibly learned  to  consider  them  as  real  beings.  The 
"  viewless  regions"  of  the  soul  have  been  portioned  out 
among  these  ideal  sovereigns  ;  but  disputes  have,  never- 
theless, sometimes  arisen  concerning  the  boundaries  of 
intellectual  provinces.  Among  the  disputed  territories, 
those  of  Imagination  have  been  most  frequently  the  seat 
of  war;  her  empire  has  been  subject  to  continual  revo- 
lution; her  dominions  have  been,  by  potent  invaders, 
divided  and  subdivided.  Fancy,*  Memory ,|  Ideal  pres- 
ence.;}; and  Conception,^  have  shared  her  spoils. 

By  poets,  imagination  has  been  addressed  as  the  great 
parent  of  genius — as  the  arbiter,  if  not  the  creator,  of 
our  pleasures  ;  by  philosophers  her  name  has  been  some- 

*  Wharton's  Ode  to  Fancy.  t  Gerard, 

t  Lord  Kames.  $  Professor  Stewart. 

T2 


436  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

times  pronounced  with  horror ;  to  her  fatal  delusions 
they  have  ascribed  all  the  crimes  and  miseries  of  man- 
kind. Yet,  even  philosophers  have  not  always  agreed 
in  their  opinions :  while  some  have  treated  Imagination 
with  contempt,  as  the  irreconcilable  enemy  of  Reason, 
by  others*  she  has  been  considered  with  more  respect, 
as  Reason's  inseparable  friend ;  as  the  friend  who  col- 
lects and  prepares  all  the  arguments  upon  which  Reason 
decides;  as  the  injured,  misrepresented  power,  who  is 
often  forced  to  supply  her  adversaries  with  eloquence, 
who  is  often  called  upon  to  preside  at  her  own  trial,  and 
to  pronounce  her  own  condemnation. 

Imagination  is  "  the  power,"  we  are  told,  of  "forming 
images:"  the  word  image,  however,  does  not,  strictly 
speaking,  express  any  thing  more  than  a  representation 
of  an  object  of  sight ;  but  the  power  of  imagination  ex- 
tends to  objects  of  all  the  senses. 

"  I  hear  a  voice  you  cannot  hear, 
Which  says  I  must  not  stay : 
I  see  a  hand  you  cannot  see, 
Which  beckons  me  away." 

Imagination  hears  the  voice,  as  well  as  sees  the  hand  ; 
by  an  easy  license  of  metaphor,  what  was  originally 
used  to  express  the  operation  of  our  senses,  is  extended 
to  them  all.  We  do  not  precisely  say  that  imagination 
forms  images  of  past  sounds,  or  tastes,  or  smells :  but 
we  say  that  she  forms  ideas  of  them  :  and  ideas,  we  are 
tolcl,  are  mental  images.  It  has  been  suggested  by  Dr. 
Darwin,  that  all  these  analogies  between  images  and 
thoughts  have,  probably,  originated  in  our  observing  the 
little  pictures  painted  on  the  retina  of  the  eye. 

It  is  difficult,  certainly,  if  not  impossible,  to  speak  of 
the  invisible  operations  of  the  mind  or  body,  without 
expressing  ourselves  in  metaphor  of  some  kind  or  other ; 
and  we  are  easily  misled  by  allusions  to  sensible  objects, 
because  when  we  comprehend  the  allusion,  we  flatter 
ourselves  that  we  understand  the  theory  which  it  is  de- 
signed to  illustrate.  Whether  we  call  ideas  images  in 
popular  language,  or  vibrations,  according  to  Dr.  Hart- 
ley's system,  or  modes  of  sensation,  with  Condillac,  or 
motions  of  the  sensorium,  in  the  language  of  Dr.  Dar- 
win, may  seem  a  matter  of  indifference.  But  even  the 

*  See  an  excellent  essay  of  Mr.  Barnes's  on  Imagination  Man- 
chester Society,  vol.  i. 


TASTE      AND    IMAGINATION.  437 

choice  of  names  is  not  a  matter  of  indifference  to  those 
who  wish  to  argue  accurately  ;  when  they  are  obliged 
to  describe  their  feelings  or  thoughts  by  metaphoric  ex- 
pressions, they  will  prefer  the  simplest ;  those  with 
which  the  fewest  extraneous  associations  are  connected. 
Words  which  call  up  a  variety  of  heterogeneous  ideas 
to  our  minds,  are  unfit  for  the  purpos'es  of  sober  reason- 
ing; our  attention  is  distracted  by  them,  and  we  cannot 
restrain  it  to  the  accurate  comparison  of  simple  propor- 
tions. We  yield  to  pleasing  revery,  instead  of  exerting 
painful  voluntary  attention.  Hence  it  is  probably  useful 
in  our  attempts  to  reason,  especially  upon  metaphysical 
subjects,  to  change  from  time  to  time  our  nomenclature, 
and  to  substitute  terms  which  have  no  relation  to  our 
old  associations,  and  which  do  not  affect  the  prejudices 
of  our  education.  We  are  obliged  to  define  with  some 
degree  of  accuracy  the  sense  of  new  terms,  and  we  are 
thus  led  to  compare  our  old  notions  with  more  severity. 
Our  superstitious  reverence  for  mere  symbols  is  also 
dissipated ;  symbols  are  apt  to  impose  even  upon  those 
who  acknowledge  their  vanity,  and  who  profess  to  con- 
sider them  merely  as  objects  of  vulgar  worship. 

WThen  we  call  a  class  of  our  ideas  images  and  pictures, 
a  tribe  of  associations  with  painting  comes  into  our 
mind,  and  we  argue  about  Imagination  as  if  she  were 
actually  a  painter,  who  has  colours  at  her  command, 
and  who,  upon  some  invisible  canvass  in  the  soul,  por- 
trays the  likeness  of  all  earthly  and  celestial  objects. 
When  we  continue  to  pursue  the  same  metaphor,  in 
speaking  of  the  moral  influence  of  Imagination,  we  say 
that  her  colouring  deceives  us,  that  her  pictures  are  flat- 
tering and  false,  that  she  draws  objects  out  of  propor- 
tion, &c.  To  what  do  all  these  metaphors  lead  ?  We 
make  no  new  discoveries  by  talking  in  this  manner ;  wo 
do  not  learn  the  cause  or  the  cure  of  any  of  the  diseases 
of  the  mind  ;  we  only  persuade  ourselves  that  we  know 
something,  when  we  are  really  ignorant. 

We  have  sedulously  avoided  entering  into  any  meta- 
physical disquisitions  ;  but  we  have  examined  with  care 
the  systems  of  theoretic  writers,  that  we  may  be  able 
to  avail  ourselves  of  such  of  their  observations  as  can 
be  reduced  to  practice  in  education.  With  respect  to 
the  arts,  imagination  may  be  considered  practically  in 
two  points  of  view ;  as  it  relates  to  our  taste,  and  as  it 
relates  to  our  talents  for  the  arts.  Without  being  a 


438  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

poet  or  an  orator,  a  man  may  have  a  sufficient  degree 
of  imagination  to  receive  pleasure  from  the  talents  of 
others ;  he  may  be  a  critical  judge  of  the  respective 
merits  of  orators,  poets,  and  artists.  This  sensibility 
to  the  pleasures  of  the  imagination,  when  judiciously 
managed,  adds  much  to  the  happiness  of  life,  and  it  must 
be  peculiarly  advantageous  to  those  who  are  precluded 
by  their  station  in  society  from  the  necessity  of  manual 
labour.  Mental  exercise  and  mental  amusements,  are 
essential  to  persons  in  the  higher  ranks  of  life,  who 
would  escape  from  the  fever  of  dissipation  or  from  the 
lethargy  of  ennui.  The  mere  physical  advantages  which 
wealth  can  procure,  are  reducible  to  the  short  sum  of 
"meat,  fire,  and  clothes."  A  nobleman  of  the  highest 
birth,  and  with  the  longest  line  of  ancestry,  inherits  no 
intuitive  taste,  nor  can  he  purchase  it  from  the  artist, 
the  painter,  or  the  poet ;  the  possession  of  the  whole 
Pinelli  library  could  not  infuse  the  slightest  portion  of 
literature.  Education  can  alone  give  the  full  power  to 
enjoy  the  real  advantages  of  fortune.  To  educate  the 
taste  and  the  imagination,  it  is  not  necessary  to  surround 
the  heir  of  an  opulent  family  with  masters  and  connois- 
seurs. Let  him  never  hear  the  jargon  of  amateurs,  let 
him  learn  the  art  "  not  to  admire."  But  in  his  earliest 
childhood  cultivate  his  senses  with  care,  that  he  may 
be  able  to  see  and  hear,  to  feel  and  understand,  for  him- 
self. Visible  images  he  will  rapidly  collect  in  his  mem- 
ory; but  these  must  be  selected,  and  his  first  associa- 
tions must  not  be  trusted  to  accident.  Encourage  him 
to  observe  with  attention  all  the  works  of  nature,  but 
show  him  only  the  best  imitations  of  art ;  the  first  ob- 
jects that  he  contemplates  with  delight,  will  remain 
long  associated  with  pleasure  in  his  imagination ;  you 
must,  therefore,  be  careful  that  these  early  associations 
accord  with  the  decisions  of  those  who  have  determined 
the  national  standard  of  taste.  In  many  instances  taste 
is  governed  by  arbitrary  and  variable  laws ;  the  fashions 
of  dress,  of  decoration,  of  manner,  change  from  day  to 
day ;  therefore  no  exclusive  prejudices  should  confine 
your  pupil's  understanding.  Let  him  know,  as  far  as 
we  know  them,  the  general  principles  which  govern 
mankind  in  their  admiration  of  the  sublime  and  beauti- 
ful ;  but  at  the  same  time  give  him  that  enlarged  toler- 
ation of  mind,  which  comprehends  the  possibility  of  a 
taste  different  from  our  own.  Show  him,  and  you  need 


TASTE     AM>      IMAGINATION.  430 

not  go  farther  than  the  Indian  screen,  or  the  Chinese 
paper  in  your  drawing-room,  for  the  illustration,  that 
the  sublime  and  beautiful  vary  at  Pekin,  at  London,  on 
Westminster  bridge,  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges. 
Let  your  young  pupil  look  over  a  collection  of  gems  or 
of  ancient  medals ;  it  is  necessary  that  his  eye  should 
be  early  accustomed  to  Grecian  beauty,  and  to  all  the 
classic  forms  of  grace.  But  do  not  suffer  him  to  become 
a  bigot,  though  he  may  be  an  enthusiast  in  his  admira- 
tion of  the  antique.  Short  lessons  upon  this  subject 
may  be  conveyed  in  a  few  words.  If  a  child  sees  you 
look  at  the  bottom  of  a  print  for  the  name  of  the  artist 
before  you  will  venture  to  pronounce  upon  its  merits, 
he  will  follow  your  example,  and  he  will  judge  by  the 
authority  of  others,  and  not  by  his  own  taste.  If  he 
hears  you  ask,  Who  wrote  this  poem  ?  Who  built  this 
palace  ?  Is  this  a  genuine  antique  1  he  will  ask  the 
same  questions  before  he  ventures  to  be  pleased.  If  he 
hears  you  pronounce  with  emphasis  that  such  a  thing 
comes  from  Italy,  and  therefore  must  be  in  good  taste, 
he  will  adopt  the  same  compendious  method  of  decision 
upon  the  first  convenient  occasion. 

He  will  not  trouble  himself  to  examine  why  utility 
pleases,  nor  will  he  analyze  his  taste,  or  discover  why 
one  proportion  or  one  design  pleases  him  better  than 
another ;  he  will,  if  by  example  you  teach  him  preju- 
dice, content  himself  with  repeating  the  words,  propor- 
tion, antique,  picturesque,  &c.,  without  annexing  to 
them  any  precise  ideas. 

Parents  who  have  not  turned  their  attention  to  met- 
aphysics, may,  perhaps,  apprehend  that  they  have  some- 
thing very  abstruse  or  intricate  to  learn,  before  they  can 
instruct  their  pupils  in  the  principles  of  taste  :  but  these 
principles  are  simple,  and  two  or  three  entertaining 
books,  of  no  very  alarming  size,  comprise  all  that  has 
yet  been  ascertained  upon  this  subject.  Vernet's  The- 
orie  des  Sentimens  Agreables ;  Hogarth's  Analysis  of 
Beauty  ;  an  Essay  of  Hume  on  the  standard  of  Taste  ; 
Burke's  Sublime  and  Beautiful ;  Lord  Kames's  Ele- 
ments of  Criticism  ;  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's  Discourses  ; 
and  Alison  on  Taste,  contain  so  much  instruction, 
mixed  with  so  much  amusement,  that  we  cannot  think 
that  it  will  be  a  terrible  task  to  any  parent  to  peruse  them. 

These  books  are  above  the  comprehension  of  chil- 
dren; but  the  principles  which  they  contain  can  be 


440  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

very  early  illustrated  in  conversation.  It  will  be  easy, 
in  familiar  instances,  to  show  children  that  the  fitness, 
propriety,  or  utility  of  certain  forms,  recommends  them 
to  our  approbation  :  that  uniformity,  an  appearance  of 
order  and  regularity,  are,  in  some  cases,  agreeable  to 
us;  contrast,  in  others :  that  one  class  of  objects  pleases 
us  from  habit,  another  from  novelty,  &c.  The  general 
principle  that  governs  taste,  in  the  greatest  variety  of 
instances,  is  the  association  of  ideas ;  and  this,  fortu- 
nately, can  be  most  easily  illustrated. 

"  I  like  such  a  person,  because  her  voice  puts  me  in 
mind  of  my  mother's.  I  like  this  walk,  because  I  was 
very  happy  the  last  time  I  was  here  with  my  sister.  I 
think  green  is  the  prettiest  of  all  colours ;  my  father's 
room  is  painted  green,  and  it  is  very  cheerful,  and  I 
have  been  very  happy  in  that  room ;  and,  besides,  the 
grass  is  green  in  spring."  Such  simple  observations  as 
these  come  naturally  from  children  ;  they  take  notice 
of  the  influence  of  association  upon  their  taste,  though, 
perhaps,  they  may  not  extend  their  observations  so  as 
to  deduce  the  general  principle  according  to  philosophi- 
cal forms.  We  should  not  lay  down  for  them  this  or 
any  other  principle  of  taste,  as  a  rule  which  they  are  to 
take  for  granted  ;  but  we  should  lead  them  to  class  their 
own  desultory  remarks,  and  we  should  excite  them  to 
attend  to  their  own  feelings,  and  to  ascertain  the  truth 
by  experiments  upon  themselves.  We  have  often  ob- 
served, that  children  have  been  much  entertained  with 
comparing  the  accidental  circumstances  they  have  met 
with,  and  the  unpremeditated  expressions  used  in  con- 
versation, with  any  general  maxim.  In  this  point  of 
view  we  may  render  even  general  maxims  serviceable 
to  children,  because  they  will  excite  to  experiment :  our 
pupils  will  detect  their  falsehood,  or,  after  sufficient 
reflection,  acknowledge  their  truth. 

Perhaps  it  may  be  thought  that  this  mode  of  instruc- 
tion wiirtend  rather  to  improve  the  judgment  than  the 
taste ;  but  every  person  of  good  taste  must  also  have  a 
good  judgment  in  matters  of  taste  :  sometimes  the  judg- 
ment may  have  been  partially  exercised  upon  a  particu- 
lar class  of  objects,  and  its  accuracy  of  discrimination 
may  be  confined  to  this  one  object ;  therefore  we  hast- 
ily decide,  that,  because  men  of  taste  may  not  always 
be  men  of  universally  good  judgment,  these  two  powers 
of  the  mind  are  unnecessary  to  each  other,  By  teach- 


TASTE    AND    IMAGINATION.  441 

ing  the  philosophy,  at  the  same  time  that  we  cultivate 
the  pleasures,  of  taste,  we  shall  open  to  our  pupils  a  new 
world  ;  we  shall  give  them  a  new  sense.  The  pleasure 
of  every  effect  will  be  increased  by  the  perception  of  its 
cause  ;  the  magic  of  the  scenery  will  not  lose  its  power 
to  charm,  though  we  are  aware  of  the  secret  of  the  en- 
chantment. 

We  have  hitherto  spoken  of  the  taste  for  what  is 
beautiful ;  a  taste  for  the  sublime  we  should  be  cautious 
in  cultivating.  Obscurity  and  terror  are  two  of  the 
grand  sources  of  the  sublime ;  analyze  the  feeling,  ex- 
amine accurately  the  object  which  creates  the  emotion, 
and  you  dissipate  the  illusion,  you  annihilate  the  pleas- 
ure. 

"  What  seemed  its  head,  the  likeness  of  a  kingly  crown  had  on." 

The  indistinctness  of  the  head  and  of  the  kingly 
crown,  makes  this  a  sublime  image.  Upon  the  same 
principle, 

"  Danger,  whose  limbs  of  giant  mould, 
No  mortal  eye  can  fix*d  behold," 

always  must  appear  sublime  as  long  as  the  passion  oi 
fear  operates.  Would  it  not,  however,  be  imprudent  in 
education  to  permit  that  early  propensity  to  supersti- 
tious terrors,  and  that  temporary  suspension  of  the 
reasoning  faculties,  which  are  often  essential  to  our 
taste  for  the  sublime  1  When  we  hear  of  *'  Margaret's 
grimly  ghost,"  or  of  the  "dead  still  hour  of  night,"  a  sort 
of  awful  tremor  seizes  us,  partly  from  the  effect  of  early 
associations,  and  partly  from  the  solemn,  tone  of  the 
reader.  The  early  associations  which  we  perhaps  have 
formed  of  terror,  with  the  ideas  of  apparitions,  and  wind- 
ing-sheets, and  sable  shrouds,  should  be  unknown  to 
children.  The  silent,  solemn  hour  of  midnight,  should 
not  to  them  be  an  hour  of  terror.  In  the  following 
poetic  description  of  the  beldam  telling  dreadful  stories 
to  her  infant  audience,  we  hear  only  of  the  pleasures 
of  the  imagination ;  we  do  not  recollect  how  dearly 
these  pleasures  must  be  purchased  by  their  votaries : 

«     ******    finally  by  night 
The  village  matron,  round  the  blazing  hearth, 
Suspends  the  infant  audience  with  her  tales, 
Breathing  astonishment  I  of  witching  rhymes, 
And  evil  spirits  ;  of  the  death-bed  call 
Of  him  who  robb'd  the  widow,  and  devour'd 
T  3 


442  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

The  orphan's  portion ;  of  the  unquiet  souls 

Ris'n  from  the  grave  to  ease  the  heavy  guilt 

Of  deeds  in  life  concealed ;  of  shapes  that  walk 

At  dead  of  night,  and  clank  their  chains,  and  wave 

The  torch  of  hell  around  the  murd'rer's  bed. 

At  every  solemn  pause  the  crowd  recoil, 

Gazing  each  other  speechless,  and  congeal'd 

With  shiv'rfng  sighs ;  till,  eager  for  th'  event, 

Around  the  beldam  all  erect  they  hang, 

Each  trembling  heart  with  grateful  terrors  quell'd."* 

No  prudent  mother  will  ever  imitate  this  eloquent 
village  matron,  nor  will  she  permit  any  beldam  in  the 
nursery  to  conjure  up  these  sublime  shapes,  and  to  quell 
the  hearts  of  her  children  with  these  grateful  terrors. 
We  were  once  present  when  a  group  of  speechless  chil- 
dren sat  listening  to  the  story  of  Blue-beard,  "  breathing 
astonishment."  A  gentleman  who  saw  the  charm  be- 
ginning to  operate,  resolved  to  counteract  its  dangerous 
influence.  Just  at  the  critical  moment  when  the  fatal 
key  drops  from  the  trembling  hands  of  the  imprudent 
wife,  the  gentleman  interrupted  the  awful  pause  of 
silence  that  ensued,  and  requested  permission  to  relate 
the  remainder  of  the  story.  Tragicomedy  does  not 
offend  the  taste  of  young,  so  much  as  of  old  critics ;  the 
transition  from  grave  to  gay  was  happily  managed. 
Blue-beard's  wife  afforded  much  diversion,  and  lost  all 
sympathy  the  moment  she  was  represented  as  a  curious, 
tattling,  timid,  ridiculous  woman.  The  terrors  of  Blue- 
beard himself  subsided  when  he  was  properly  introduced 
to  the  company ;  and  the  denouement  of  the  piece  was 
managed  much  to  the  entertainment  of  the  audience ; 
the  catastrophe,  instead  of  freezing  their  young  blood, 
produced  general  laughter.  Ludicrous  images,  thus 
presented  to  the  mind  which  has  been  prepared  for  hor- 
ror, have  an  instantaneous  effect  upon  the  risible  mus- 
cles :  it  seems  better  to  use  these  means  of  counteract- 
ing the  terrors  of  the  imagination,  than  to  reason  upon 
the  subject  while  the  fit  is  on ;  reason  should  be  used 
between  the  fits.f  Those  who  study  the  minds  of  chil- 
dren know  the  nice  touches  which  affect  their  imagina- 
tion, and  they  can,  by  a  few  words,  change  their  feelings 
by  the  power  of  association. 

*  Akenside. 

t  "  Know  there  are  words  and  spells  which  can  control. 
Between  the  fits,  the  fever  of  the  soul." — POPE. 


TASTE    AND    IMAGINATION.  443 

Ferdinand  Duke  of  Tuscany  was  once  struck  with  the 
picture  of  a  child  crying :  the  painter,!  who  was  at 
work  upon  the  head,  wished  to  give  the  duke  a  proof 
of  his  skill :  by  a  few  judicious  strokes,  he  converted 
the  crying  into  a  laughing  face.  The  duke,  when  he 
looked  at  the  child  again,  was  in  astonishment:  the 
painter,  to  show  himself  master  of  the  human  counte- 
nance, restored  his  first  touches  ;  and  the  duke,  in  a  few 
moments,  saw  the  child  weeping  again.  A  preceptor 
may  acquire  similar  power  over  the  countenance  of  his 
pupil,  if  he  has  studied  the  oratorical  art.  By  the  art 
of  oratory,  we  do  not  mean  the  art  of  misrepresenta- 
tion, the  art  of  deception  ;  we  mean  the  art  of  showing 
the  truth  in  the  strongest  light;  of  exciting  virtuous 
enthusiasm  and  generous  indignation.  Warm,  glowing 
eloquence  is  not  inconsistent,  with  accuracy  of  reason- 
ing and  judgment.  When  we  have  expressed  our  ad- 
miration or  abhorrence  of  any  action  or  character,  we 
should  afterward  be  ready  coolly  to  explain  to  our  pupils 
the  justice  of  our  sentiments  :  by  this  due  mixture  and 
alternation  of  eloquence  and  reasoning,  we  may  culti- 
vate a  taste  for  the  moral  and  sublime,  and  yet  preserve 
the  character  from  any  tincture  of  extravagant  enthusi- 
asm. We  cannot  expect  that  the  torrent  of  passion 
should  never  sweep  away  the  landmarks  of  exact  mo- 
rality ;  but  after  its  overflowing  impetuosity  abates,  we 
should  take  a  calm  survey  of  its  effects,  and  we  should 
be  able  to  ascertain  the  boundaries  of  right  and  wrong 
with  geometrical  precision. 

There  is  a  style  of  bombast  morality  affected  by  some 
authors,  which  must  be  hurtful  to  young  readers.  Gen- 
erosity and  honour,  courage  and  sentiment,  are  the 
striking  qualities  which  seize  and  enchant  the  imagina- 
tion in  romance ;  these  qualities  must  be  joined  with 
justice,  prudence,  economy,  patience,  and  many  humble 
virtues,  to  make  a  character  really  estimable  ;  but  these 
would  spoil  the  effect,  perhaps,  of  dramatic  exhibitions. 

Children  may  with  much  greater  safety  see  hideous, 
than  gigantic  representations  of  the  passions.  Richard 
the  Third  excites  abhorrence;  but  young  Charles  de 
Moor,  in  "The  Robbers,"  commands  our  sympathy; 
even  the  enormity  of  his  guilt  exempts  him  from  all 
ordinary  modes  of  trial ;  we  forget  the  murderer,  and 

*  Peter  cf  Cortona. 


444  PKACTICAL  KDUC'ATION. 

see  something  like  a  hero.  It  is  curiods  to  observe, 
that  the  legislature  in  Germany  and  in  England  have 
found  it  necessary  to  interfere  as  to  the  representation 
of  Captain  Mac  Heath  and  Charles  de  Moor,  two  char- 
acters in  which  the  tragic  and  the  comic  muse  have  had 
powerful  effects  in  exciting  imitation.  George  Barn- 
well  is  a  hideous  representation  of  the  passions,  and 
therefore  beneficial. 

There  are  many  sublime  objects  which  do  not  depend 
upon  terror,  or  at  least  upon  false  associations  of  terror, 
for  their  effect ;  and  there  are  many  sublime  thoughts, 
which  have  no  connexion  with  violent  passions  or  false 
ideas  of  morality.  These  are  what  we  should  select, 
if  possible,  to  raise,  without  inflating,  the  imagination. 
The  view  of  the  ocean,  of  the  setting  or  the  rising  sun, 
the  great  and  bold  scenes  of  nature,  affect  the  mind  with 
sublime  pleasure.  All  the  objects  which  suggest  ideas 
of  vast  space  or  power,  of  the  infinite  duration  of  time, 
of  the  decay  of  the  monuments  of  ancient  grandeur,  or 
of  the  master-pieces  of  human  art  and  industry,  have 
power  to  raise  sublime  sensations :  but  we  should  con- 
~.  sider,  that  they  raise  this  pleasure  only  by  suggesting 
certain  ideas;  those  who  have  not  the  previous  ideas 
will  not  feel  the  pleasure.  We  should  not,  therefore, 
expect  that  children  should  admire  objects  which  do  not 
excite  any  ideas  in  their  minds  ;  we  should  wait  till  they 
have  acquired  the  necessary  knowledge,  and  we  should 
not  injudiciously  familiarize  them  with  these  objects. 

Simplicity  is  a  source  of  the  sublime,  peculiarly  suited 
to  children ;  accuracy  of  observation  and  distinctness  of 
perception,  are  essential  to  this  species  of  the  sublime. 
In  Percy's  collection  of  ancient  ballads,  and  in  the  mod- 
ern poems  of  the  Ayreshire  ploughman,  we  may  see 
many  instances  of  the  effect  of  simplicity.  To  preserve 
our  pupil's  taste  from  a  false  love  of  ornament,  he  must 
avoid,  either  in  books  or  conversation,  all  verbose  and 
turgid  descriptions,  the  use  of  words  and  epithets  which 
only  fill  up  the  measure  of  a  line. 

When  a  child  sees  any  new  object,  or  feels  any  new 
sensation,  we  should  assist  him  with  appropriate  words 
to  express  his  thoughts  and  feelings  :  when  the  impres- 
sion is  fresh  in  his  mind,  the  association,  with  the  pre- 
cise descriptive  epithets,  can  be  made  with  most  cer- 
tainty. As  soon  as  a  child  has  acquired  a  sufficient 
stock  of  words  and  ideas,  he  should  be  from  time  to 


TASTE    AND    IMAGINATION7.  445 

time  exercised  in  description ;  we  should  encourage  him 
to  give  an  exact  account  of  his  own  feelings  in  his  own 
words.  Those  parents  who  have  been  used  to  elegant, 
will  not,  perhaps,  be  satisfied  with  the  plain  descriptions 
of  unpractised  pupils  ;  but  they  should  not  be  fastidious ; 
they  should  rather  be  content  with  an  epithet  too  little, 
than  with  an  epithet  too  much ;  and  they  should  com- 
pare the  child's  description  with  the  objects  actually 
described,  and  not  the  poems  of  Thomson  or  Gray,  or 
Milton  or  Shakspeare.  If  we  excite  our  pupils  to  copy 
from  the  writings  of  others,  they  never  can  have  any 
originality  of  thought.  To  show  parents  what  sort  of 
simple  descriptions  they  may  reasonably  expect  from 
children,  we  venture  to  produce  the  following  extempore 
description  of  a  summer's  evening,  given  by  three  chil- 
dren of  different  ages. 

July  12th,  1796.  Mr. was  walking  put  with  hia 

family,  and  he  asked  his  children  to  describe  the  even- 
ing just  as  it  appeared  to  them.  "  There  were  three 
bards  in  Ossian's  poems."  said  he,  "who  were  sent  out 
to  see  what  sort  of  a  night  it  was ;  they  all  gave  different 
descriptions  upon  their  return  ;  you  have  never  any  of 
you  read  Ossian,  but  you  can  give  us  some  description 
of  this  evening ;  try." 

B (a  girl  of  14.)  "The  clouds  in  the  west  are 

bright  with  the  light  of  the  sun  which  has  just  set;  a 
thick  mist  is  seen  in  the  east,  and  the  smoke  which  had 
been  heaped  up  in  the'tdaytime,  is  now  spread,  and  mixes 
with  the  mist  all  round  us ;  the  noises  are  heard  more 
plainly  (though  there  are  but  few)  than  in  the  daytime  ; 
and  those  which  are  at  a  distance,  sound  almost  as  near 
as  those  which  are  close  to  us  ;  there  is  a  red  mist  round 
the  moon." 

C (a  girl  of  eleven  years  old.)  "  The  western 

clouds  are  pink  with  the  light  of  the  sun  which  has  just 
set.  The  moon  shines  red  through  the  mist.  The 
smoke  and  mist  make  it  look  dark  at  a  distance  ;  but  the 
few  objects  near  us  appear  plainer.  If  it  were  not  for 
the  light  of  the  moon,  they  would  not  be  seen  ;  but  the 
moon  is  exceedingly  bright ;  it  shines  upon  the  house 
and  the  windows.  Every  thing  sounds  busy  at  a  dis- 
tance ;  but  what  is  near  us  is  still." 

S (a  boy  between  nine  and  ten  years  old.)  "  The 

sun  has  set  behind  the  hill,  and  the  western  clouds  are 

tinged  with  light.     The  mist  mixes  with  the  smoke, 

38 


446  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

which  rises  from  the  heaps  of  weeds  which  some  poor 
man  is  burning  to  earn  bread  for  his  family.  The  moon 
through  the  mist  peeps  her  head,  and  sometimes  she 
goes  back,  retires  into  her  bower  of  clouds.  The  few 
noises  that  are  heard  are  heard  very  plain — very 
plainly." 

We  should  observe,  that  the  children  who  at- 
tempted these  little  descriptions  had  not  been  habit- 
uated to  the  poetic  trade ;  these  were  the  only  descrip- 
tions of  an  evening  which  they  ever  made.  It  would  be 
hurtful  to  exercise  children  frequently  in  descriptive 
composition ;  it  would  give  them  the  habit  of  exact  ob- 
servation, it  is  true,  but  something  more  is  necessary 
to  the  higher  species  of  poetry.  Words  must  be  se- 
lected which  do  not  represent  only,  but  which  suggest, 
ideas.  Minute  veracity  is  essential  to  some  sorts  of 
description ;  but  in  a  higher  style  of  poetry,  only  the 
large  features  characteristic  of  the  scene  must  be  pro- 
duced, and  all  that  is  subordinate  must  be  suppressed. 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  justly  observes,  that  painters  who 
aim  merely  at  deception  of  the  eye  by  exact  imitation, 
are  not  likely,  even  in  their  most  successful  imitations, 
to  rouse  the  imagination.  The  man  who  mistook  the 
painted  fly  for  a  real  fly,  only  brushed,  or  attempted  to 
brush  it,  away.  The  exact  representation  of  such  a 
common  object,  could  not  raise  any  sublime  ideas  in  his 
mind ;  and  when  he  perceived  the  deception,  the  won- 
der which  he  felt  at  the  painter's  art,  was  a  sensation 
no  way  connected  with  poetic  enthusiasm. 

As  soon  as  young  people  have  collected  a  variety  of 
ideas,  we  can  proceed  a  step  in  the  education  of  their  fancy. 
We  should  sometimes  in  conversation,  sometimes  in 
writing  or  in  drawing,  show  them  how  a  few  strokes,  or 
a  few  words,  can  suggest  or  combine  various  ideas.  A 
single  expression  from  Caesar  charmed  a  mutinous  army 
to  instant  submission.  Unless  the  words  "  Roman  Citi- 
zens!" had  suggested  more  than  meets  the  ear,  how 
could  they  have  produced  this  wonderful  effect?  The 
works  of  Voltaire  and  Sterne  abound  with  examples  of 
the  skilful  use  of  the  language  of  suggestion:  on  this 
the  wit  of  Voltaire,  and  the  humour  and  pathos  of 
Sterne,  securely  depend  for  their  success.  Thus,  cor- 
poral Trim's  eloquence  on  the  death  of  his  young  mas- 
ter, owed  its  effect  upon  the  whole  kitchen,  including 
"  the  fat  scullion,  who  was  scouring  a  fishkettle  upon 


TASTE    AND    IMAGINATION.  447 

her  knees,"  to  the  well-timed  use  of  the  mixed  language 
of  action  and  suggestion. 

,  "  '  Are  we  not  here  now  V  continued  the  corporal 
(striking  the  end  of  his  stick  perpendicularly  upon  the 
floor,  so  as  to  give  an  idea  of  health  and  stability), '  and 
are  we  not'  (dropping  his  hat  upon  the  ground) '  gone  in 
a  moment  V " 

"  Are  we  no,t  here  now  and  gone  in  a  moment  1"  con- 
tinues Sterne,  who,  in  this  instance,  reveals  the  secret 
of  his  own  art.  "  There  was  nothing  in  the  sentence; 
it  was  one  of  your  self-evident  truths  we  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  hearing  every  day :  and  if  Trim  had  not 
trusted  more  to  his  hat  than  his  head,  he  had  made 
nothing  at  all  of  it." 

When  we  point  out  to  our  pupils  such  examples  in 
Sterne,  we  hope  it  will  not  be  understood  that  we  point 
them  out  to  induce  servile  imitation.  We  apprehend 
that  the  imitators  of  Sterne  have  failed  from  not  having 

discovered  that  the  interjections  and dashes  of  this 

author  are  not  in  themselves  beauties,  but  that  they 
affect  us  by  suggesting  ideas.  To  prevent  any  young 
writers  from  the  intemperate  or  absurd  use  of  interjec- 
tions, we  should  show  them  Mr.  Home  Tooke's  acute 
remarks  upon  this  mode  of  embellishment.  We  do  not, 
however,  entirely  agree  with  this  author  in  his  abhor- 
rence of  interjections.  We  do  not  believe  that  "  where 
speech  can  be  employed  .they  are  totally  useless ;  and 
are  always  insufficient  for  the  purpose  of  communicating 
our  thoughts."*  Even  if  we  class  them,  as  Mr.  Tooke 
himself  does,f  among  "  involuntary  convulsions  with  oral 
sound,"  such  as  groaning,  shrieking,  &c.,  yet  they  may 
suggest  ideas,  as  well  as  express  animal  feelings. 
Sighing,  according  to  Mr.  Tooke,  is  in  the  class  of  inter- 
jections, yet  the  poet  acknowledges  the  superior  elo- 
quence of  sighs  : 

"  Persuasive  words,  and  more  pers-uasive  sighs." 

"  *  I  wish,'  said  Uncle  Toby,  with  a  deep  sigh  (after 
hearing  the  story  of  Le  Fevre),  '  I  wish,  Trim,  I  was 
asleep.'  "  The  sigh  here  adds  great  force  to  the  wish, 
and  it  does  not  mark  that  Uncle  Toby,  from  vehemence 
of  passion,  had  returned  to  the  brutal  state  of  a  savage 
who  has  not  learned  the  use  of  speech ;  but,  on  the  con- 

*  See  Epea  Pteroentra,  p.  88.  f  Chapter  on  Grammar. 


448  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

trary,  it  suggests  to  the  reader  that  Uncle  Toby  was  a 
man  of  civilized  humanity  ;  not  one  whose  compassion 
was  to  be  excited  merely  as  an  animal  feeling  by  the 
actual  sight  of  a  fellow-creature  in  pain,  but  rather  by 
the  description  of  the  sufferer's  situation. 

In  painting,  as  well  as  in  writing,  the  language  of  sug- 
gestion affects  the  mind ;  and  if  any  of  our  pupils  should 
wish  to  excel  in  this  art,  they  must  early  attend  to  this 
principle.  The  picture  of  Agamemnon  hiding  his  face 
at  the  sacrifice  of  his  daughter,  expresses  little  to  the 
eye,  but  much  to  the  imagination.  The  usual  signs  of 
grief  and  joy  make  but  slight  impression;  to  laugh  and 
to  weep  are  such  common  expressions  of  delight  or 
anguish,  that  they  cannot  be  mistaken,  even  by  the 
illiterate  ;  but  the  imagination  must  be  cultivated  to  en- 
large the  sphere  of  sympathy,  and  to  render  a  more  re- 
fined language  intelligible.  It  is  said  that  a  Milanese 
artist  painted  two  peasants  and  two  country  girls,  who 
laughed  so  heartily,  that  no  one  could  look  at  them  with- 
out laughing.*  This  is  an  instance  of  sympathy  uncon- 
nected with  imagination.  The  following  is  an  instance 
of  sympathy  excited  by  imagination.  When  Portia  was 
to  part  from  Brutus,  just  before  the  breaking  out  of  the 
civil  war,  "  she  endeavoured,"  says  Plutarch,  "  as  well 
as  possible,  to  conceal  the  sorrow  that  oppressed  her  ; 
but,  notwithstanding  her  magnanimity,  a  picture  be- 
trayed her  distress.  The  subject  was  the  parting  of 
Hector  and  Andromache.  He  was  represented  deliver- 
ing his  son  Astyanax  into  her  arms,  and  the  eyes  of 
Andromache  were  fixed  upon  him.  The  resemblance 
that  this  picture  bore  to  her  own  distress,  made  Portia 
burst  into  tears  the  moment  she  beheld  it."  If  Portia 
had  never  read  Homer,  Andromache  would  not  have 
had  this  power  over  her  imagination  and  her  sympathy. 

The  imagination  not  only  heightens  the  power  of 
sympathy  with  the  emotions  of  all  the  passions  which  a 
painter  would  excite,  but  it  is  likewise  essential  to  our 
taste  for  another  class  of  pleasures.  Artists  who,  like 
Hogarth,  would  please  by  humour,  wit,  and  ridicule, 
must  depend  upon  the  imagination  of  the  spectators  to 
supply  all  the  intermediate  ideas  which  they  would  sug- 
gest. The  cobweb  over  the  poor  box,  one  of  the  hap- 
piest strokes  of  satire  that  Hogarth  ever  invented,  would 

*  See  Camper's  Works,  p.  126. 


TASTK    AN7P     IMAGINATION.  449 

probably  say  nothing  to  the  inattentive  eye,  or  the  dull 
imagination.  A  young  person  must  acquire  the  lan- 
guage, before  he  can  understand  the  ideas  of  superior 
minds. 

The  taste  for  poetry  must  be  prepared  by  the  culture 
of  the  imagination.  The  united  powers  of  music  and 
poetry  could  not  have  triumphed  over  'Alexander,  unless 
his  imagination  had  assisted  "  the  mighty  master." 

"  With  downcast  looks  the  joyless  victor  sat, 
Revolving  in  his  altered  soul 
The  various  turns  of  chance  below ; 
And  now  and  then  a  sigh  he  stole, 
And  tears  began  to  flow." 

The  sigh  and  the  tears  were  the  consequences  of 
Alexander's  own  thoughts,  which  were  only  recalled  by 
kindred  sounds.  We  are  well  aware  that  savage  na- 
tions, or  those  that  are  imperfectly  civilized,  are  subject 
to  enthusiasm  ;  but  we  are  inclined  to  think  that  the  bar- 
barous clamour  with  which  they  proclaim  their  delight 
in  music  and  poetry,  may  deceive  us  as  to  the  degree  in 
which  it  is  felt :  the  sensations  of  cultivated  minds  may 
be  more  exquisite,  though  they  are  felt  in  silence.  It 
has  been  supposed  that  ignorance  is  extremely  sus- 
ceptible of  the  pleasures  of  wonder ;  but  wonder  and 
admiration  are  different  feelings :  the  admiration  which 
a  cultivated  mind  feels  for  excellence  of  which  it  can 
fully  judge,  is  surely  a  higher  species  of  pleasure  than 
the  brute  wonder  expressed  by  "  a  foolish  face  of 
praise."  Madame  Roland  tells  us  that  once,  at  a  ser- 
mon preached  by  a  celebrated  Frenchman,  she  was 
struck  with  the  earnest  attention  painted  in  the  counte- 
nance of  a  young  woman  who  was  looking  up  at  the 
preacher.  At  length  the  fair  enthusiast  exclaimed,  "  My 
God,  how  he  perspires !"  A  different  sort  of  admira- 
tion was  felt  by  Caesar,  when  the  scroll  dropped  from 
his  hand  while  he  listened  to  an  oration  of  Cicero. 

There  are  an  infinite  variety  of  associations  by  which 
the  orator  has  power  to  rouse  the  imagination  of  a  per- 
son of  cultivated  understanding;  there  are  compara- 
tively few,  by  which  he  can  amuse  the  fancy  of  illiterate 
auditors.  It  is  not  that  they  have  less  imagination  than 
others ;  they  have  equally  the  power  of  raising  vivid 
images  ;  but  there  are  few  images  which  can  be  recalled 
to  them  :  the  combinations  of  their  ideas  are  confined  to 
a  small  number,  and  words  have  no  poetic  or  literary 


450  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

associations  in  their  minds :  even  among  children,  this 
difference  between  the  power  we  have  over  the  culti- 
vated and  uncultivated  mind,  early  appears.  A  laurel  is 
to  the  eye  of  an  illiterate  boy  nothing  more  than  a  shrub 
with  a  shining,  pale-green,  pointed  leaf :  recall  the  idea  of 
that  shrub  by  the  most  exact  description,  it  will  affect  him 
with  no  peculiar  pleasure  ;  but  associate  early  in  a  boy's 
mind  the  ideas  of  glory,  of  poetry,  of  Olympic  crowns,  of 
Daphne  and  Apollo  ;  by  some  of  these  latent  associa- 
tions the  orator  may  afterward  raise  his  enthusiasm. 
We  shall  not  here  repeat  what  has  been  said*  upon  the 
choice  of  literature  for  young  people,  but  shall  once 
more  warn  parents  to  let  their  pupils  read  only  the  best 
authors,  if  they  wish  them  to  have  a  fine  imagination 
or  a  delicate  taste.  When  their  minds  are  awake  and 
warm,  show  them  excellence ;  let  them  hear  oratory 
only  when  they  can  feel  it ;  if  the  impression  be  vivid, 
no  matter  how  transient  the  touch.  Ideas  which  have 
once  struck  the  imagination,  can  be  recalled  by  the 
magic  of  a  word,  with  all  their  original,  all  their  asso- 
ciated force.  Do  not  fatigue  the  eye  and  ear  of  your 
vivacious  pupil  with  the  monotonous  sounds  and  con- 
fused images  of  vulgar  poetry.  Do  not  make  him  re- 
peat the  finest  passages  of  Shakspeare  and  Milton  :  the 
effect  is  lost  by  repetition ;  the  words,  the  ideas  are 
profaned.  Let  your  pupils  hear  eloquence  from  elo- 
quent lips,  and  they  will  own  its  power.  But  let  a 
drawling,  unimpassioned  reader,  read  a  play  of  Shak- 
speare, or  an  oration  of  Demosthenes,  and  if  your  pupil 
is  not  out  of  patience,  he  will  never  taste  the  charms  of 
eloquence.  If  he  feels  a  fine  sentiment,  or  a  sublime 
idea,  pause,  leave  his  mind  full,  leave  his  imagination 
elevated.  Five  minutes  afterward,  perhaps,  your  pupil's 
attention  is  turned  to  something  else,  and  the  sublime 
idea  seems  to  be  forgotten  :  but  do  not  fear;  the  idea  is 
not  obliterated  ;  it  is  latent  in  his  memory ;  it  will  ap- 
pear at  a  proper  time,  perhaps  a  month,  perhaps  twenty 
years  afterward.  Ideas  may  remain  long  useless  and 
almost  forgotten  in  the  mind,  and  may  be  called  forth  by 
some  corresponding  association  from  their  torpid  state. 
Young  people  who  wish  to  make  themselves  orators 
or  eloquent  writers,  should  acquire  the  habit  of  attend- 
ing first  to  the  general  impression  made  upon  their  own 

*  See  Chapter  on  Books. 


TASTK    AND    IMAGINATION.  451 

minds  by  oratory,  and  afterward  to  the  cause  which 
produced  the  effect ;  hence  they  will  obtain  command 
over  the  minds  of  others,  by  using  the  knowledge  they 
have  acquired  of  their  own.  The  habit  of  considering 
every  new  idea,  or  new  fact,  as  a  subject  for  allusion, 
may  also  be  useful  to  the  young  orator.  A  change,  from 
time  to  time  in  the  nature  of  his  studies,  will  enlarge 
and  invigorate  his  imagination.  Gibbon  says,  that,  after 
the  publication  of  his  first  volume  of  the  Roman  history, 
he  gave  himself  a  short  holyday.  "  I  indulged  my  cu- 
riosity in  some  studies  of  a  very  different  nature :  a 
course  of  anatomy,  which  was  demonstrated  by  Dr. 
Hunter,  and  some  lessons  of  chymistry,  which  were  de- 
livered by  Dr.  Higgins.  The  principles  of  these  sciences, 
and  a  taste  for  books  of  natural  history,  contributed  to 
multiply  my  ideas  and  images ;  and  the  anatomist  and 
chymist  may  sometimes  track  me  in  their  own  snow." 

Different  degrees  of  enthusiasm  are  requisite  in  dif- 
ferent professions  ;  but  we  are  inclined  to  think,  that  the 
imagination  might  with  advantage  be  cultivated  to  a 
much  higher  degree  than  is  commonly  allowed  in  young 
men  intended  for  public  advocates.  We  have  seen 
several  examples  of  the  advantage  of  a  general  taste 
for  the  belles  lettres  in  eminent  lawyers  ;*  and  we  have 
lately  seen  an  ingenious  treatise  called  Deinology,  or  in- 
structions for  a  Young  Barrister,  which  confirms  our 
opinion  upon  this  subject.  An  orator,  by  the  judicious 
preparation  of  the  minds  of  his  audience,  may  increase 
the  effect  of  his  best  arguments.  A  Grecian  painter,! 
before  he  would  produce  a  picture  which  he  had  fin- 
ished, representing  a  martial  enterprise,  ordered  mar- 
tial music  to  be  played,  to  raise  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  assembled  spectators;  when  their  imagination  was 
sufficiently  elevated,  he  uncovered  the  picture,  and  it 
was  beheld  with  sympathetic  transports  of  applause. 

It  is  usually  thought  that  persons  of  extraordinary 
imagination  are  deficient  in  judgment :  by  proper  edu- 
cation, this  evil  might  be  prevented.  We  may  observe 
that  persons  who  have  acquired  particular  facility  in 
certain  exercises  of  the  imagination,  can,  by  voluntary 
exertion,  either  excite  or  suppress  certain  trains  of 
ideas  on  which  their  enthusiasm  depends.  An  actor, 
who  storms  and  raves  while  he  is  upon  the  stage,  ap- 

*  Lord  Mansfield,  Hussey  Burgh,  &c.  f  Theon. 


452  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

pears  with  a  mild  and  peaceable  demeanour  a  moment 
afterward  behind  the  scenes.  A  poet,  in  his  inspired 
moments,  repeats  his  own  verses  in  his  garret  with  all 
the  emphasis  and  fervour  of  enthusiasm  ;  but  when  he 
comes  down  to  dine  with  a  mixed  convivial  company, 
his  poetic  fury  subsides,  and  a  new  train  of  ideas  takes 
place  in  his  imagination.  As  long  as  he  has  sufficient 
command  over  himself  to  lay  aside  his  enthusiasm  in 
company  he  is  considered  as  a  reasonable,  sensible 
man,  and  the  more  imagination  he  displays  in  his  poems, 
the  better.  The  same  exercise  of  fancy,  which  we 
admire  in  one  case,  we  ridicule  in  another.  The  enthu- 
siasm which  characterizes  the  man  of  genius,  borders 
upon  insanity. 

When  Voltaire  was  teaching  Mademoiselle  Claron, 
the  celebrated  actress,  to  perform  an  impassioned  part 
in  one  of  his  tragedies,  shetobjected  to  the  violence  of 
his  enthusiasm.  "  Mais,  monsieur,  on  me  prendroit 
pour  une  possedee  !"*  "Eh,  mademoiselle,"  replied  the 
philosophic  bard,  "  il  faut  etre  un  possede  pour  reussir 
en  aucun  art." 

The  degree  of  enthusiasm  which  makes  the  painter 
and  poet  set,  what  to  more  idle  or  more  busy  mortals, 
appears  an  imaginary  value  upon  their  respective  arts, 
supports  the  artist  under  the  pressure  of  disappointment 
and  neglect,  stimulates  his  exertions,  and  renders  him 
almost  insensible  to  labour  and  fatigue.  Military  heroes, 
or  those  who  are  "  insane  with  ambition"^  endure  all  the 
real  miseries  of  life,  and  brave  the  terrors  of  death,  un- 
der the  invigorating  influence  of  an  extravagant  imagi- 
nation. Cure  them  of  their  enthusiasm,  and  they  are  no 
longer  heroes.  We  must,  therefore,  decide  in  education, 
what  species  of  characters  we  would  produce,  before  we 
can  determine  what  degree  or  what  habits  of  imagina- 
tion are  desirable. 

"  Je  suis  le  Dieu  de  la  danse  !"J  exclaimed Vestris  ;  and 
probably  Alexander  the  Great  did  not  feel  more  pride  in 
his  apotheosis.  Had  any  cynical  philosopher  under- 
taken to  cure  Vestris  of  his  vanity,  it  would  not  have 
been  a  charitable  action.  Vestris  might,  perhaps,  by 
force  of  reasoning,  have  been  brought  to  acknowledge 

*  "  But,  sir,  I  shall  be  taken  for  one  possessed !" — "  Well,  ma'am 
you  must  be  like  one  possessed,  if  you  would  succeed  in  any  art." 
t  Dr.  Darwin.  t  "T  arn  the  god  of  dancing!" 


TAWTfc    AND    IMAGINATION.  453 

that  a  dancing-master  was  not  a  divinity,  but  this  con- 
viction would  not  have  increased  his  felicity ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  would  have  become  wretched  in  proportion 
as  he  became  rational.  The  felicity  of  enthusiasts  de- 
pends upon  their  being  absolutely  incapable  of  reasoning, 
or  of  listening  to  reason,  upon  certain  subjects ;  pro- 
vided they  are  resolute  in  repeating  their  own  train  of 
thoughts  without  comparing  them  with  that  of  others, 
they  may  defy  the  malice  of  wisdom,  and  in  happy 
ignorance  may  enjoy  perpetual  delirium. 

Parents  who  value  the  happiness  of  their  children, 
will  consider  exactly  what  chance  there  is  of  their  en- 
joying unmolested  any  partial  enthusiasm ;  they  will 
consider,  that  by  early  excitations,  it  is  very  easy  to 
raise  any  species  of  ambition  in  the  minds  of  their  pu- 
pils. The  various  species  of  enthusiasm  necessary  to 
make  a  poet,  a  painter,  an  orator,  or  a  military  hero,  may 
be  inspired,  without  doubt,  by  education.  How  far  these 
are  connected  with  happiness,  is  another  question. 
Whatever  be  the  object  which  he  pursues,  we  must,  as 
much  as  possible,  ensure  our  pupil's  success.  Those 
who  have  been  excited  to  exertion  by  enthusiasm,  if  they 
do  not  obtain  the  reward  or  admiration  which  they  had 
been  taught  to  expect,  sink  into  helpless  despondency. 
Whether  their  object  has  been  great  or  small,  if  it  has 
been  their  favourite  object,  and  they  fail  of  its  attain- 
ment, their  mortification  and  subsequent  languor  are  un- 
avoidable. The  wisest  of  monarchs  exclaimed,  that  all 
was  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit :  he  did  not,  perhaps, 
feel  more  weary  of  the  world  than  the  poor  juggler  felt, 
who,  after  educating  his  hands  to  the  astonishing  dex- 
terity of  throwing  up  into  the  air,  and  catching  as  they 
fell,  six  eggs  successively,  without  breaking  them,  re- 
ceived from  the  emperor  before  whom  he  performed, 
six  eggs,  to  reward  the  labour  of  his  life  ! 

This  poor  man's  ambition  appears  obviously  absurd  ; 
and  we  are  under  no  immediate  apprehension,  that  pa- 
rents should  inspire  their  children  with  the  enthusiasm 
necessary  to  the  profession  of  a  juggler:  but,  unless 
some  precautions  are  taken,  the  objects  which  excite  the 
ambition  of  numbers,  may  be  placed  so  as  to  deceive 
the  eye  and  imagination  of  children  ;  and  they  may  la- 
bour through  life  in  pursuit  of  phantoms.  If  children 
early  hear  their  parents  express  violent  admiration  for 
riches,  rank,  power,  or  fame,  they  catch  a  species  of  en- 


454  PKACT1CAL    KDIJCATION. 

thusiasm  for  these  things,  before  they  can  estimate 
justly  their  value ;  from  the  countenance  and  manner, 
they  draw  very  important  conclusions.  "  Felicity  is 
painted  on  your  countenance,"  is  a  polite  phrase  of  salu- 
tation in  China.  The  taste  for  looking  happy  is  not 
confined  to  the  Chinese :  the  rich  and  great,*  by  every 
artifice  of  luxury,  endeavour  to  impress  the  spectator 
with  the  idea  of  their  superior  felicity.  From  experi- 
ence we  know,  that  the  external  signs  of  delight  are  not 
always  sincere,  and  that  the  apparatus  of  luxury  is  not 
necessary  to  happiness.  Children  who  live  with  persons 
of  good  sense,  learn  to  separate  the  ideas  of  happiness 
and  a  coach  and  six  ;  but  young  people  who  see  their 
fathers,  mothers,  and  preceptors,  all  smitten  with  sudden 
admiration  at  the  sight  of  a  phaeton  or  a  fine  gentleman, 
are  immediately  infected  with  the  same  absurd  enthu- 
siasm. These  parents  do  not  suspect  that  they  are  per- 
verting the  imagination  of  their  children,  when  they  call 
them  with  foolish  eagerness  to  the  window  to  look  at  a 
fine  equipage,  a  splendid  cavalcade,  or  a  military  proces- 
sion ;  they  perhaps  summon  a  boy  who  is  intended  for 
a  merchant  or  a  lawyer,  to  hear  "  the  spirit-stirring 
drum ;"  and  they  are  afterward  surprised,  if  he  says, 
when  he  is  fifteen  or  sixteen,  that,  "  if 'his  father  pleases, 
he  had  rather  go  into  the  army  than  go  to  the  bar." 
The  mother  is  alarmed,  perhaps,  about  the  same  time, 
by  an  unaccountable  predilection  in  her  daughter's  fancy 
for  a  red  coat,  and  totally  forgets  having  called  the  child 
to  the  window  to  look  at  the  smart  cockades,  and  to  hear 
the  tune  of  "  See,  the  conquering  hero  comes." 

"  Hear  you  me,  Jessica,"  says  Shylock  to  his  daugh- 
ter, "  lock  up  my  doors  ;  and  when  you  hear  the  drum, 
and  the  vile  squeaking  of  the  wry-necked  fife,  clamber 
not  you  up  into  the  casements  then." 

Shylock's  exhortations  were  vain;  Jessica  had  ar- 
rived at  years  of  discretion,  and  it  was  too  late  to  forbid 
her  clambering  into  the  casements ;  the  precautions 
should  have  been  taken  sooner ;  the  epithets  vile, 
squeaking,  and  wry-necked  fife,  could  not  alter  the 
lady's  taste  ;  and  Shylock  should  have  known  how  per- 
emptory prohibitions  and  exaggerated  expressions  of 
aversion  operate  upon  the  female  imagination  ;  he  was 
imprudent  in  the  extreme  of  his  caution.  We  should  let 

*  See  Smith's  Moral  Theory. 


TASTE    AND    IMAGINATION.  455 

children  see  things  as  they  really  are,  and  we  should  not 
prejudice  them  either  by  our  exclamations  of  rapture, 
or  by  our  affected  disgust.  If  they,  are  familiarized 
with  show,  they  will  not  be  caught  by  it ;  if  they  see  the 
whole  of  whatever  is  to  be  seen,  their  imagination  will 
not  paint  things  more  delightful  than  they  really  are. 
For  these  reasons,  we  think  that  young  people  should 
not  be  restrained,  though  they  may  be  guided  in  their 
tastes  ;  we  should  supply  them  with  all  the  information  in 
which  they  are  deficient,  and  leave  them  to  form  their 
own  judgments.  -, 

Without  making  it  a  matter  of  favour,  or  of  extra- 
ordinary consequence,  parents  can  take  their  children 
to  see  public  exhibitions,  or  to  partake  of  any  amuse- 
ments which  are  really  agreeable ;  they  can,  at  the  same 
time,  avoid  mixing  factitious  with  real  pleasure.  If,  for 
instance,  we  have  an  opportunity  of  taking  a  boy  to  a 
good  play,  or  a  girl  to  a  ball,  let  them  enjoy  the  full 
pleasure  of  the  amusement,  but  do  not  let  us  excite 
their  imagination  by  great  preparations,  or  by  antici- 
pating remarks  :  "  Oh,  you'll  be  very  happy  to-morrow, 
for  you're  to  go  to  the  play.  You  must  look  well  to- 
night, for  you  are  going  to  the  ball.  Were  you  never 
at  a  ball  ]  Did  you  never  see  a  play  before  1  Oh»  then, 
you'll  be  delighted,  I'm  sure  !"  The  children  often  look 
much  more  sensible,  and  sometimes  more  composed,  in 
the  midst  of  these  foolish  exclamations,  than  their  pa- 
rents. "  Est  ce  que  je  m'amuse,  maman  1"  said  a  little 
girl  of  six  years  old,  the  first  time  she  was  taken  to  the 
playhouse. 

Besides  the  influence  of  opinion,  there  are  a  number 
of  other  circumstances  to  be  considered  in  cultivating 
the  imagination ;  there  are  many  other  circumstances 
which  must  be  attended  to,  and  different  precautions 
are  necessary,  to  regulate  properly  the  imagination  of 
children  of  different  dispositions  or  temperaments.  The 
disposition  to  associate  ideas,  varies  in  strength  and 
quickness  in  opposite  temperaments :  the  natural  vivacity 
or  dulness  of  the  senses,  the  habit  of  observing  external 
objects,  the  power  of  voluntary  exertion,  and  the  pro- 
pensity to  revery,  must  all  be  considered  before  we  can 
adapt  a  plan  of  education  exactly  to  the  pupil's  advan- 
tage. A  wise  preceptor  will  counteract,  as  much  as 
possible,  all  those  defects  to  which  a  child  may  appear 
most  liable,  and  will  cultivate  his  imagination  so  as  to 


456  PRACTICAL    KDUCA'iloN. 

prevent  the.  errors  to  which  he  is  most  exposed  by  nat- 
ural, or  what  we  call  natural,  disposition. 

Some  children  appear  to  feel  sensations  of  pleasure 
or  pain  with  more  energy  than  others  ;  they  take  more 
delight  in  feeling  than  in  reflection  ;  they  have  neither 
much  leisure  nor  much  inclination  for  the  intellectual 
exertions  of  comparison  and  deliberation.  Great  care 
should  be  taken  to  encourage  children  of  this  temper  to 
describe  and  to  compare  their  sensations.  By  their 
descriptions  we  shall  judge  what  motives  we  ought  to 
employ  to  govern  them,  and  if  we  can  teach  them  to 
compare  their  feelings,  we  shall  induce  that  voluntary 
exertion  of  mind  in  which  they  are  naturally  defective. 
We  cannot  compare  or  judge  of  our  sensations  without 
voluntary  exertion.  When  we  deliberate,  we  repeat 
our  ideas  deliberately ;  and  this  is  an  exercise  peculi- 
arly useful  to  those  who  feel  quickly. 

When  any  pleasure  makes  too  great  an  impression 
upon  these  children  of  vivid  sensations,  we  should  re- 
peat the  pleasure  frequently  till  it  begins  to  fatigue  ;  or 
we  should  contrast  it,  and  bring  it  into  direct  com- 
parison with  some  other  species  of  pleasure.  For  in- 
stance, suppose  a  boy  had  appeared  highly  delighted 
with  seeing  a  game  at  cards,  and  that  we  were  appre- 
hensive he  might,  from  this  early  association,  acquire  a 
taste  for  gaming,  we  might  either  repeat  the  amuse- 
ment till  the  playing  of  cards  began  to  weary  the  boy, 
or  we  might  take  him  immediately  after  playing  at  cards 
to  an  interesting  comedy;  probably  the  amusement  he 
would  receive  at  the  playhouse  would  be  greater  than 
that  which  he  had  enjoyed  at  the  card-table  ;  and  as 
these  two  species  of  pleasure  would  immediately  suc- 
ceed to  each  other,  the  child  could  scarcely  avoid  com- 
paring them.  Is  it  necessary  to  repeat,  that  all  this 
should  be  done  without  any  artifice  1  The  child  should 
know  the  meaning  of  our  conduct,  and  then  he  will  never 
set  himself  in  opposition  to  our  management. 

If  it  is  not  convenient  or  possible  to  dull  the  charm 
of  novelty  by  repetition,  or  to  contrast  a  new  pleasure 
with  some  other  superior  amusement,  there  is  another 
expedient  which  may  be  useful ;  we  may  call  the  power 
of  association  to  our  assistance  ;  this  power  is  some- 
times a  full  match  for  the  most  lively  sensations.  For 
instance,  suppose  a  boy  of  strong  feelings  had  been 
offended  by  some  trifle,  and  expressed  sensations  of 


TASTE    AND    IMAGINATION.  457 

hatred  against  the  offender  obviously  too  violent  for  the 
occasion  ;  to  bring  the  angry  boy's  imagination  to  a 
temperate  state,  we  might  recall  some  circumstance  of 
his  former  affection  for  the  offender;  or  the  general 
idea,  that  it  is  amiable  and  noble  to  command  our 
passion,  and  to  forgive  those  who  have  injured  us.  At 
the  sight  of  his  mother,  with  whom  he  had  many  agreea- 
ble associations,  the  imagination  of  Coriolanus  raised 
up  instantly  a  train  of  ideas  connected  with  the  love  of 
his  family  and  of  his  country,  and  immediately  the 
violence  of  his  sensations  of  anger  was  subdued. 

Brutus,  after  his  friend  Cassius  has  apologized  to  him 
for  his  "  rash  humour,"  by  saying,  "  that  it  was  heredi- 
tary from  his  mother,"  promises  that  the  next  time 
Cassius  is  over-earnest  with  "  his  Brutus,  he  will  think 
his  mother  chides,  and  leave  him  so ;"  that  is  to  say, 
Brutus  promises  to  recollect  an  association  of  ideas, 
which  shall  enable  him  to  bear  with  his  friend's  ill- 
humour. 

Children  who  associate  ideas  very  strongly  and  with 
rapidity,*  must  be  educated  with  continual  attention. 
With  children  of  this  class,  the  slightest  circumstances 
are  of  consequence;  they  may  at  first  appear  to  be 
easily  managed,  because  they  will  remember  pertina- 
ciously any  reproof,  any  reward  or  punishment ;  and, 
from  association,  they  will  scrupulously  avoid  or  follow 
what  has,  in  any  one  instance,  been  joined  with  pain  or 
pleasure  in  their  imagination  :  but,  unfortunately,  acci- 
dental events  will  influence  them,  as  well  as  the  rewards 
and  punishments  of  their  preceptors ;  and  a  variety  of 
associations  will  be  formed,  which  may  secretly  govern 
them  long  before  their  existence  is  suspected.  We 
shall  be  surprised  to  find,  that  even  where  there  is  ap- 
parently no  hope,  or  fear,  or  passion,  to  disturb  their 
judgment,  they  cannot  reason,  or  understand  reasoning. 
On  studying  them  more  closely,  we  shall  discover  the 
cause  of  this  seeming  imbecility.  A  multitude  of  asso- 
ciated ideas  occur  to  them  upon  whatever  subject  we 
attempt  to  reason,  which  distract  their  attention,  and 
make  them  change  the  terms  of  every  proposition  with 
incessant  variety.  Their  pleasures  are  chiefly  second- 
ary reflected  pleasures,  and  they  do  not  judge  by  their 
actual  sensations  so  much  as  by  their,  associations. 


*  Temperament  of  increased  association, — ZOONOMIA 
39 


458  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

They  like  and  dislike  without  being  able  to  assign  any 
sufficient  cause  for  their  preference  or  aversion.  They 
make  a  choice  frequently  without  appearing  to  deliber- 
ate;  and  if  you,  by  persuading  them  to  a  more  detailed 
examination  of  the  objects,  convince  them,  that  accord- 
ing to  the  common  standard  of  good  and  evil,  they  have 
made  a  foolish  choice,  they  will  still  seem  puzzled  and 
uncertain ;  and,  if  you  leave  them  at  liberty,  will  persist 
in  their  original  determination.  By  this  criterion  we 
may  decide,  that  they  are  influenced  by  some  secret 
false  association  of  ideas  ;  and,  instead  of  arguing  with 
them  upon  the  obvious  folly  of  their  present  choice,  we 
should  endeavour  to  make  them  trace  back  their  ideas, 
and  discover  the  association  by  which  they  are  gov- 
erned. In  some  ^ases  this  may  be  out  of  their  power, 
because  the  original  association  may  have  been  totally 
forgotten,  and  yet  those  connected  with  it  may  continue 
to  act :  but  even  when  we  cannot  succeed  in  any  partic- 
ular instance  in  detecting  the  cause  of  the  error,  we 
shall  do  the  pupils  material  service  by  exciting  them 
to  observe  their  own  minds.  A  tutor  who  carefully  re- 
marks the  circumstances  in  which  a  child  expresses 
uncommon  grief  or  joy,  hope  or  fear,  may  obtain  com- 
plete knowledge  of  his  associations,  and  may  accurately 
distinguish  the  proximate  and  remote  causes  of  all  his 
pupil's  desires  and  aversions.  He  will  then  have  abso- 
lute command  over  the  child's  mind,  and  he  should  upon 
no  account  trust  his  pupil  to  the  direction  of  any  other 
person.  Another  tutor,  though  perhaps  of  equal  ability, 
could  not  be  equally  secure  of  success  ;  the  child  would 
probably  be  suspected  of  cunning,  caprice,  or  obstinacy, 
because  the  causes  of  his  tastes  and  judgments  could 
not  be  discovered  by  his  new  preceptor. 

It  often  happens  that  those  who  feel  pleasure  and 
pain  most  strongly,  are  likewise  most  disposed  to  form 
strong  associations  of  ideas.*  Children  of  this  char- 
acter are  never  stupid,  but  often  prejudiced  and  passion- 
ate :  they  can  readily  assign  a  reason  for  their  pref- 
erence or  aversion ;  they  recollect  distinctly  the  ori- 
ginal sensations  of  pleasure  or  pain,  on  which  their 
associations  depend ;  they  do  not,  like  Mr.  Transfer  in 
Zeluco,  like  or  dislike  persons  and  things  because  they 

*  See  Zoonomia.  Temperament  of  increased  sensibility  and  as- 
sociation joined. 


TASTE    AND    IMAGINATION.  459 

have  been  used  to  them,  but  because  they  have  received 
some  injury  or  benefit  from  them.  Such  children  are 
apt  to  make  great  mistakes  in  reasoning,  from  their 
registering  of  coincidences  hastily ;  they  do  not  wait  to 
repeat  their  experiments ;  but  if  they  have  in  one  in- 
stance observed  two  things  to  happen -at  the  same  time, 
they  expect  that  they  will  always  recur  together.  If 
one  event  precedes  or  follows  another  accidentally,  they 
believe  it  to  be  the  cause  or  effect  of  its  concomitant, 
and  this  belief  is  not  to  be  shaken  in  their  minds  by 
ridicule  or  argument.  They  are,  consequently,  inclined 
both  to  superstition  and  enthusiasm,  according  as  their 
hopes  and  fears  predominate.  They  are  likewise  sub- 
ject to  absurd  antipathies — antipathies  which  verge  to- 
wards insanity. 

Dr.  Darwin  relates  a  strong  instance  of  antipathy  in 
a  child  from  association.  The  child,  on  tasting  the 
gristle  of  sturgeon,  asked  what  gristle  was  1  and  was 
answered,  that  gristle  was  like  the  division  of  a  man's 
nose.  The  child,  disgusted  at  this  idea,  for  twenty 
years  afterward  could  never  be  persuaded  to  taste 
sturgeon.* 

Zimmermann  assures  us  that  he  was  an  eyewitness 
of  a  singular  antipathy,  which  we  may  be  permitted  to 
describe  in  his  own  words  : — 

"  Happening  to  be  in  company  with  some  English 
gentlemen,  all  of  them  men  of  distinction,  the  conversa- 
tion fell  upon  antipathies.  Many  of  the  company  denied 
their  reality,  and  considered  them  as  idle  stories  ;  but  I 
assured  them  that  they  were  truly  a  disease.  Mr.  Will- 
iam Matthews,  son  to  the  governor  of  Barbadoes,  was 
of  my  opinion,  because  he  himself  had  an  antipathy  to 
spiders.  The  rest  of  the  company  laughed  at  him.  I 
undertook  to  prove  to  them  that  this  antipathy  was 
really  an  impression  on  his  soul,  resulting  from  the  deter- 
mination of  a  mechanical  effect.  (We  do  not  pretend  to 
know  what  Dr.  Zimmermann  means  by  this.)  Lord 
John  Murray  undertook  to  shape  some  black  wax  into 
the  appearance  of  a  spider,  with  a  view  to  observe , 
whether  the  antipathy  would  take  place  at  the  simple 
figure  of  the  insect.  He  then  withdrew  for  a  moment, 
and  came  in  again  with  the  wax  in  his  hand,  which 
he  kept  shut.  Mr.  Matthews,  who  in  other  respects 

*  Zoonomia,  vol.  ii 
U2 


460  PKACT1CAL  EDUCATION. 

was  a  very  amiable  and  moderate  man,  immediately 
conceiving  that  his  friend  really  had  a  spider  in  his 
hand,  clapped  his  hand  to  his  sword  with  extreme  fury, 
and  running  back  towards  the  partition,  cried  out  most 
horribly.  All  the  muscles  of  his  face  were  swelled,  his 
eyes  were  rolling  in  their  sockets,  and  his  body  was  im- 
moveable.  We  were  all  exceedingly  alarmed,  and  im- 
mediately ran  to  his  assistance,  took  his  sword  from 
him,  and  assured  him  that  what  he  conceived  to  be  a 
spider  was  nothing  more  than  a  bit  of  wax,  which  he 
might  see  upon  the  table. 

"  He  remained  some  time  in  this  spasmodic  state ; 
but  at  length  he  began  to  recover,  and  to  deplore  the 
horrible  passion  from  which  he  still  suffered.  His  pulse 
was  very  strong  and  quick,  and  his  whole  body  was 
covered  with  a  cold  perspiration.  After  taking  an  ano- 
dyne draught,  he  resumed  his  usual  tranquillity. 

"  We  are  not  to  wonder  at  this  antipathy,"  continues 
Zimmermann  ;  "  the  spiders  at  Barbadoes  are  very  large, 
and  of  a  hideous  figure.  Mr.  Matthews  was  born 
there,  and  his  antipathy  was  therefore  to  be  accounted 
for.  Some  of  the  company  undertook  to  make  a  little 
waxen  spider  in  his  presence.  He  saw  this  done  with 
great  tranquillity,  but  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to  touch 
it,  though  he  was  by  no  means  a  timorous  man  in  other 
respects.  Nor  would  he  follow  my  advice  to  endeavour 
to  conquer  this  antipathy  by  first  drawing  parts  of  spi- 
ders of  different  sorts,  and  after  a  time  whole  spiders, 
till  at  length  he  might  be  able  to  look  at  portions  of 
real  spiders,  and  thus  gradually  accustom  himself  to 
whole  ones,  at  first  dead,  and  then  living  ones."* 

Dr.  Zimmermann's  method  of  cure  appears  rather 
more  ingenious  than  his  way  of  accounting  for  the  dis- 
ease. Are  all  the  natives  of  Barbadoes  subject  to  con- 
vulsions at  the  sight  of  the  large  spiders  in  that  island  ? 
or  why  does  Mr.  William  Matthews'  having  been  born 
there  account  so  satisfactorily  for  his  antipathy  ? 

The  cure  of  these  unreasonable  fears  of  harmless  ani- 
mals, like  all  other  antipathies,  would,  perhaps,  be  easily 
effected,  if  it  were  judiciously  attempted  early  in  life. 
The  epithets  which  we  use  in  speaking  of  animals,  and 
our  expressions  of  countenance,  have  great  influence  on 

*  Monthly  Review  of  Zimmermann  on  Experience  in  Physic. 
March,  1783,  page  211. 


TASTE    AND    IMAGINATION.  461 

the  minds  of  children.  If  we,  as  Dr.  Darwin  advises, 
call  the  spider  the  ingenious  spider,  and  the  frog  the 
harmless  frog,  and  if  we  )ook  at  them  with  complacency, 
instead  of  aversion,  children,  from  sympathy,  will  imitate 
our  manner,  and  from  curiosity  will  attend  to  the  ani- 
mals, to  discover  whether  the  commendatory  epithets 
we  bestow  upon  them  are  just. 

It  is  comparatively  of  little  consequence  to  conquer 
antipathies  which  have  trifling  objects.  An  individual 
can  go  through  life  very  well  without  eating  sturgeon, 
or  touching  spiders  ;  but  when  we  consider  the  influ- 
ence of  the  same  disposition  to  associate  false  ideas  too 
strongly  in  more  important  instances,  we  shall  perceive 
the  necessity  of  correcting  it  by  education. 

Locke  tells  us  of  a  young  man,  who,  having  been  ac- 
customed to  see  an  old  trunk  in  the  room  with  him 
when  he  learned  to  dance,  associated  his  dancing  exer- 
tions so  strongly  with  the  sight  of  this  trunk,  that  he 
could  not  succeed  by  any  voluntary  efforts  in  its  ab- 
sence. We  have,  in  our  remarks  upon  attention,* 
pointed  out  the  great  inconveniences  to  which  those  are 
exposed  who  acquire  associated  habits  of  intellectual 
exertion ;  who  cannot  speak,  or  write,  or  think,  without 
certain  habitual  aids  to  their  memory  or  imagination. 
We  must  farther  observe,  that  incessant  vigilance  is 
necessary  in  the  moral  education  of  children  disposed 
to  form  strong  associations ;  they  are  liable  to  sudden 
and  absurd  dislikes  or  predilections,  with  respect  toper- 
sons  as  well  as  things ;  they  are  subject  to  caprice  in 
their  affections  and  temper,  and  liable  to  a  variety  of 
mental  infirmities,  which,  in  different  degrees,  we  call 
passion  or  madness.  Locke  tells  us  that  he  knew  a 
man  who,  after  having  been  restored  to  health  by  a 
painful  operation,  had  so  strongly  associated  the  idea 
and  figure  of  the  operator  with  the  agony  he  had  en- 
dured, that  though  he  acknowledged  the  obligation,  and 
felt  gratitude  towards  this  friend  who  had  saved  him, 
he  never  afterward  could  bear  to  see  his  benefactor. 
There  are  some  people  who  associate  so  readily  and  in- 
corrigibly the  idea  of  any  pain  or  insult  they  have  re- 
ceived from  another,  with  his  person  and  character, 
that  they  can  never  afterward  forget  or  forgive.  They 
are  hence  disposed  to  all  the  intemperance  of  hatred  and 

*  See  Chapter  on  Attention, 


462  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

revenge  ;  to  the  chronic  malice  of  an  lago,  or  the  acute 
pangs  of  an  Achilles.  Homer,  in  his  speech  of  Achilles 
to  Agamemnon's  mediating  ambassadors,  has  drawn  a 
strong  and  natural  picture  of  the  progress  of  anger.  It 
is  worth  studying  as  a  lesson  in  metaphysics.  When- 
ever association  suggests  to  the  mind  of  Achilles  the 
injury  he  has  received,  he  loses  his  reason,  and  the 
orator  works  himself  up  from  argument  to  declamation, 
and  from  declamation  to  desperate  resolution,  through 
a  close-linked  connexion  of  ideas  and  sensations. 

The  insanities  of  ambition,  avarice,  and  vanity,  ori- 
ginate in  early  mistaken  associations.  A  feather,  or  a 
crown,  or  an  alderman's  chain,  or  a  cardinal's  hat,  or  a 
purse  of  yellow  counters,  is  unluckily  associated  in  the 
minds  of  some  men  with  the  idea  of  happiness,  and, 
without  staying  to  deliberate,  these  unfortunate  persons 
hunt  through  life  the  phantasms  of  a  disordered  imagi- 
nation. While  we  pity,  we  are  amused  by  the  blindness 
and  blunders  of  those  whose  mistakes  can  affect  no 
one's  felicity  but  their  own ;  but  any  delusions  which 
prompt  their  victims  to  actions  inimical  to  their  fellow- 
creatures,  are  the  objects  not  unusually  of  pity,  but  of 
indignation,  of  private  aversion  and  public  punishment. 
We  smile  at  the  avaricious  insanity  of  the  miser,  who 
dresses  himself  in  the  cast-off  wig  of  a  beggar,  and 
pulls  a  crushed  pancake  from  his  pocket  for  his  own 
and  for  his  friend's  dinner.*  We  smile  at  the  insane 
vanity  of  the  pauper,  who  dressed  himself  in  a  many- 
coloured  paper  star,  assumed  the  title  of  Duke  of  Bau- 
bleshire,  and  as  such  required  homage  from  every  pas- 
senger.f  But  are  we  inclined  to  smile  at  the  outra- 
geous vanity  of  the  man  who  styled  himself  the  son  of 
Jupiter,  and  who  murdered  his  best  friend  for  refusing 
him  divine  honours  1  Are  we  disposed  to  pity  the  slave- 
merchant,  who,  urged  by  the  maniacal  desire  for  gold, 
hears  unmoved  the  groans  "of  his  fellow-creatures,  the 
execrations  of  mankind,  and  that  "  small  still  voice," 
which  haunts  those  who  are  stained  with  blood  1 

The  moral  insanities  which  strike  us  with  horror, 
compassion,  or  ridicule,  however  they  may  differ  in  their 
effects,  have  frequently  one  common  origin;  an  early 
false  association  of  ideas.  Persons  who  mistake  in 

--  Elwes.    See  his  Life." 

*  There  is  an  account  of  this  poor  man's  death  in  the  Star,  1796. 


TASTi:    AND     IMAGINATION.  463 

measuring  their  own  feelings,  or  who  neglect  to  com- 
pare their  ideas,  and  to  balance  contending  wishes, 
scarcely  merit  the  name  of  rational  creatures.  The 
man  who  does  not  deliberate,  is  lost. 

We  have  endeavoured,  though  well  aware  of  the  dif- 
ficulty of  the  subject,  to  point  out  some  of  the  precau- 
tions that  should  be  used  in  governing  the  imagination 
of  young  people  of  different  dispositions.  We  should 
add,  that  in  all  cases  the  pupil's  attention  to  his  own 
mind  will  be  of  more  consequence  than  the  utmost 
vigilance  of  the  most  able  preceptor ;  the  sooner  he  is 
made  acquainted  with  his  own  character,  and  the  sooner 
he  can  be  excited  to  govern  himself  by  reason,  or  to  at- 
tempt the  cure  of  his  own  defects,  the.  better. 

There  is  one  habit  of  the  imagination  to  which  we 
have  not  yet  adverted  ;  the  habit  of  revery.  In  revery 
we  are  so  intent  upon  a  particular  train  of  ideas,  that, 
we  are  unconscious  of  all  external  objects,  and  we 
exert  but  little  voluntary  power.  It  is  true  that  some 
persons  in  castle-building  both  reason  and  invent,  and 
therefore  must  exert  some  degree  of  volition ;  even  in 
the  wildest  revery,  there  may  be  traced  some  species 
of  consistency,  gome  connexion  among  the  ideas ;  but 
this  is  simply  the  result  of  the  association  of  ideas. 
Intentive  castle-builders  are  rather  nearer  the  state  of 
insanity  than  of  revery  ;  they  reason  well  upon  false 
principles  ;  their  airy  fabrics  are  often  both  in  good  taste 
and  in  good  proportion;  nothing  is  wanting  to  them  but 
a  foundation.  On  the  contrary,  nothing  can  be  more 
silly  than  the  reveries  of  silly  people  ;  they  are  not  only 
defective  in  consistency,  but  they  want  all  the  unities  ; 
they  are  not  extravagant,  but  they  are  stupid  ;  they  con- 
sist usually  of  a  listless  reiteration  of  uninteresting 
ideas;  the  whole  pleasure  enjoyed  by  those  addicted  to 
them,  consists  in  the  facility  of  repetition. 

It  is  a  mistaken  notion,  that  only  people  of  ardent 
imaginations  are  disposed  to  revery  ;  the  most  indolent 
and  stupid  persons  waste  their  existence  in  this  indul- 
gence ;  they  do  not  act  always  in  consequence  of  their 
dreams,  therefore  we  do  not  detect  their  folly.  Young 
people  of  active  minds,  when  they  have  not  sufficient 
occupation,  necessarily  indulge  in  revery  ;  and,  by  de- 
grees, this  wild  exercise  of  their  invention  and  imagina- 
tion becomes  so  delightful  to  them,  that  they  prefer  it 
to  all  sober  employments. 


464  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

Mr.  Williams,  in  his  Lectures  upon  Education,  gives 
an  account  of  a  boy  singularly  addicted  to  revery.  The 
desire  of  invisibility  had  seized  his  mind,  and  for  several 
years  he  had  indulged  his  fancy  with  imagining  all  the 
pleasures  that  he  should  command,  and  all  the  feats  that 
he  could  perform,  if  he  were  in  possession  of  Gyges's 
ring.  The  reader  should,  however,  be  informed,  that 
this  castle-builder  was  not  a  youth  of  strict  veracity ; 
his  confession  upon  this  occasion,  as  upon  others,  might 
not  have  been  sincere.  We  only  state  the  story  from 
Mr.  Williams. 

To  prevent  children  from  acquiring  a  taste  for  rev- 
ery, let  them  have  various  occupations  both  of  mind  and 
body.  Let  us  not  direct  their  imagination  to  extraor- 
dinary future  pleasures,  but  let  us  suffer  them  to  enjoy 
the  present.  Anticipation  is  a  species  of  revery ;  and 
children  who  have  promises  of  future  pleasures  fre- 
quently made  to  them,  live  in  a  continual  state  of  anti- 
cipation. 

To  cure  the  habit  of  revery  when  it  has  once  been 
formed,  we  must  take  different  methods  with  different 
tempers.  With  those  who  indulge  in  the  stupid  revery, 
we  should  employ  strong  excitations,  and  present  to  the 
senses  a  rapid  succession  of  objects,  which  will  com- 
pletely engage  without  fatiguing  them.  This  mode 
must  not  be  followed  with  children  of  different  dis- 
positions, else  we  should  increase,  instead  of  curing, 
the  disease.  The  most  likely  method  to  break  this 
habit  in  children  of  great  quickness  or  sensibility,  is  to 
set  them  to  some  employment  which  is  wholly  new  to 
them,  and  which  will  consequently  exercise  and  ex- 
haust all  their  faculties,  so  that  they  shall  have  no  life 
left  for  castle-building.  Monotonous  occupations,  such 
as  copying,  drawing,  or  writing,  playing  on  the  harpsi- 
chord, &c.,  are  not,  if  habit  has  made  them  easy  to  the 
pupil,  fit  for  our  purpose.  We  may  all  perceive,  that  in 
such  occupations  the  powers  of  the  mind  are  left  un- 
exercised.  We  can  frequently  read  aloud  with  tolerable 
emphasis  for  a  considerable  time  together,  and  at  the 
same  time  think  upon  some  subject  foreign  to  the  book 
we  hold  in  our  hands. 

The  most  difficult  exercises  of  the  mind,  such  as  in- 
vention, or  strict  reasoning,  are  those  alone  which  are 
sufficient  to  subjugate  and  chain  down  the  imagination 
of  some  active  spirits.  To  such  laborious  exercises 


TASTE    AND    IMAGINATION.  465 

they  should  be  excited  by  the  encouraging  voice  of 
praise  and  affection.  Imaginative  children  will  be  more 
disposed  to  invent  than  to  reason,  but  they  cannot  per- 
fect any  invention  without  reasoning ;  there  will,  there- 
fore, be  a  mixture  of  what  they  like  and  dislike  in  the 
exercise  of  invention,  and  the  habit  .of  reasoning  will, 
perhaps,  gradually  become  agreeable  to  them,  if  it  be 
thus  dexterously  united  with  the  pleasures  of  the  ima- 
gination. 

So  much  has  already  been  written  by  various  authors 
upon  the  pleasures  and  the  dangers  of  imagination,  that 
we  could  scarcely  hope  to  add  any  thing  new  to  what 
they  have  produced :  but  we  have  endeavoured  to 
arrange  the  observations  which  appeared  most  appli- 
cable to  practical  education ;  we  have  pointed  out  how 
the  principles  of  taste  may  be  early  taught  without  in- 
jury to  the  general  understanding,  and  how  the  imagi- 
nation should  be  prepared  for  the  higher  pleasures  of 
eloquence  and  poetry.  We  have  attempted  to  define 
the  boundaries  between  the  enthusiasm  of  genius  and 
its  extravagance  ;  and  to  show  some  of  the  precautions 
which  may  be  used  to  prevent  the  moral  defects  to 
which  persons  of  ardent  imagination  are  usually  subject. 
The  degree  in  which  the  imagination  should  be  cul- 
tivated must,  we  have  observed,  be  determined  by  the 
views  which  parents  may  have  for  their  children,  by 
their  situation  in  society,  and  by  the  professions  for 
which  they  are  destined.  Under  the  government  of  a 
sober  judgment,  the  powers  of  the  imagination  must  be 
advantageous  in  every  situation  ;  but  their  value  to  so- 
ciety, and  to  the  individuals  by  whom  they  are  possessed, 
depends  ultimately  upon  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
managed.  A  magician,  under  the  control  of  a  philos- 
opher, would  perform  not  only  great,  but  useful  won- 
ders. The  homely  proverb  whicn  has  been  applied  to 
fire,  may  with  equal  truth  be  applied  to  imagination : 
"  It  is  a  good  servant,  but  a  bad  master." 
U  3 


466  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

ON   WIT    AND   JUDGMENT. 

IT  has  been  shown  that  the  powers  of  memory,  in- 
vention, and  imagination,  ought  to  be  rendered  subserv- 
ient to  judgment :  it  has  been  shown  that  reasoning  and 
judgment  abridge  the  labours  of  memory,  and  are  ne- 
cessary to  regulate  the  highest  flights  of  imagination. 
We  shall  consider  the  power  of  reasoning  in  another 
view,  as  being  essential  to  our  conduct  in  life.  The 
\  object  of  reasoning  is  to  adapt  means  to  an  end,  to  attain 
Mhe  command  of  effects  by  the  discovery  of  the  causes 
on  which  they  depend. 

Until  children  have  acquired  some  knowledge  of 
effects,  they  cannot  inquire  into  causes.  Observation 
must  precede  reasoning ;  and  as  judgment  is  nothing 
more  than  the  perception  of  the  result  of  comparison, 
we  should  never  urge  our  pupils  to  judge  until  they 
have  acquired  some  portion  of  experience. 

To  teach  children  to  compare  objects  exactly,  we 
should  place  the  things  to  be  examined  distinctly  before 
them.  Every  thing  that  is  superfluous  should  be  taken 
away,  and  a  sufficient  motive  should  be  given  to  excite 
the  pupil's  attention.  We  need  not  here  repeat  the  ad- 
vice that  has  formerly  been  given*  respecting  the  choice 
of  proper  motives  to  excite  and  fix  attention ;  or  the 
precautions  necessary  to  prevent  the  pain  of  fatigue, 
and  of  unsuccessful  application.  If  comparison  be 
early  rendered  a  task  to  children,  they  will  dislike  and 
avoid  this  exercise  of  the  mind,  and  they  will  conse- 
quently show  an  inaptitude  to  reason :  -if  comparing 
objects  be  made  interesting  and  amusing  to  our  pupils, 
they  will  soon  become  expert  in  discovering  resem- 
blances and  differences  ;  and  thus  they  will  be  prepared 
for  reasoning. 

Rousseau  has  judiciously  advised,  that  the  senses  of 
children  should  be  cultivated  with  the  utmost  care.  In 
proportion  to  the  distinctness  of  their  perceptions,  will  be 
the  accuracy  of  their  memory,  and,  probably,  also  the 

*  See  Chapter  on  Attention. 


WIT    AND    JUDGMi NT.  467 

precision  of  their  judgment.  A  child  who  sees  imper- 
fectly, cannot  reason  justly  about  the  objects  of  sight, 
because  he  has  not  sufficient  data.  A  child  who  does 
not  hear  distinctly,  cannot  judge  well  of  sounds  ;  and  if 
we  could  suppose  the  sense  of  touch  to  be  twice  as  ac- 
curate in  one  child  as  in  another,  we  might  conclude 
that  the  judgment  of  these  children  must  differ  in  a 
similar  proportion.  The  defects  in  organization  are  not 
within  the  power  of  the  preceptor  ;  but  we  may  observe, 
that  inattention,  and  want  of  exercise,  are  frequently 
the  causes  of  what  appear  to  be  natural  defects ;  and, 
on  the  contrary,  increased  attention  and  cultivation 
sometimes  produce  that  quickness  of  eye  and  ear,  and 
that  consequent  readiness  of  judgment,  which  we  are 
apt  to  attribute  to  natural  superiority  of  organization  or 
capacity.  Even  among  children,  we  may  early  observe 
a  considerable  difference  between  the  quickness  of  their 
senses  and  of  their  reasoning  upon  subjects  where  they 
have  had  experience,  and  upon  those  on  which  they 
have  not  been  exercised. 

The  first  exercises  for  the  judgment  of  children 
should,  as  Rousseau ;  recommends,  relate  to  visible  and 
tangible  substances.  Let  them  compare  the  size  and 
shape  of  different  objects  ;  let  them  frequently  try  what 
they  can  lift;  what  they  can  reach;  at  what  distance 
they  can  see  objects ;  at  what  distance  they  can  hear 
sounds:  by  these  exercises  they  will  learn  to  judge  of 
distances  and  weight ;  and  they  may  learn  to  judge  of 
the  solid  contents  of  bodies  of  different  shapes,  by  com- 
paring the  observations  of  their  sense  of  feeling  and  of 
sight.  The  measure  of  hollow  bodies  can  be  easily 
taken  by  pouring  liquids  into  them,  and  then  comparing 
the  quantities  of  the  liquids  that  fill  vessels  of  different 
shapes.  This  is  a  very  simple  method  of  exercising  the 
judgment  of  children  ;  and,  if  they  are  allowed  to  try 
these  little  experiments  for  themselves,  the  amusement 
will  fix  the  facts  in  their  memory,  and  will  associate 
pleasure  with  the  habits  of  comparison.  Rousseau  re- 
wards Emilius  with  cakes  when  he  judges  rightly ;  suc- 
cess, we  think,  is  a  better  reward.  Rousseau  was  him- 
self childishly  fond  of  cakes  and  cream. 

The  step  which  immediately  follows  comparison,  is 
deduction.  The  cat  is  larger  than  the  kitten ;  then  a 
hole  through  which  the  cat  can  go  must  be  larger  than 
a  hole  through  which  the  kitten  can  go.  Long  before  a 


468  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

child  can  put  this  reasoning  into  words,  he  is  capable 
of  forming  the  conclusion,  and  we  need  not  be  in  haste 
to  make  him  announce  it  in  mode  and  figure.  We  may 
see  by  the  various  methods  which  young  children  em- 
ploy to  reach  what  is  above  them,  to  drag,  to  push,  to 
lift  different  bodies,  that  they  reason ;  that  is  to  say, 
that  they  adapt  means  to  an  end,  before  they  can  ex- 
plain their  own  designs  in  words.  Look  at  a  child 
building  a  house  of  cards ;  he  dexterously  balances 
every  card  as  he  floors  the  edifice  ;  he  raises  story  over 
story,  and  shows  us  that  he  has  some  design  in  view, 
though  he  would  be  utterly  incapable  of  describing  his 
intentions  previously  in  words.  We  have  formerly* 
endeavoured  to  show  how  the  vocabulary  of  our  pupils 
may  be  gradually  enlarged,  exactly  in  proportion  to 
their  real  knowledge.  A  great  deal  depends  upon  our 
attention  to  this  proportion  ;  if  children  have  not  a  suffi- 
cient number  of  words  to  make  their  thoughts  intelli- 
gible, we  cannot  assist  them  to  reason  by  our  conver- 
sation, we  cannot  communicate  to  them  the  result  of  our 
experience ;  they  will  have  a  great  deal  of  useless  la- 
bour in  comparing  objects,  because  they  will  not  be 
able  to  understand  the  evidence  of  others,  as  they  do 
not  understand  their  language  ;  and  at  last,  the  reason- 
ings which  they  carry  on  in  their  own  minds  will  be 
confused,  for  want  of  signs  to  keep  them  distinct.  On 
the  contrary,  if  their  vocabulary  exceed  their  ideas,  if 
they  are  taught  a  variety  of  words  to  which  they  con- 
nect no  accurate  meaning,  it  is  impossible  that  they 
should  express  their  thoughts  with  precision.  As  this 
is  one  of  the  most  common  errors  in  education,  we 
shall  dwell  upon  it  more  particularly. 

We  have  pointed  out  the  mischief  which  is  done  to 
the  understanding  of  children  by  the  nonsensical  con- 
versation of  common  acquaintance.!  "  Should  you  like 
to  be  a  king  ?  What  are  you  to  be  1  Are  you  to  be  a 
bishop  or  a  judge  !  Had  you  rather  be  a  general  or  an 
admiral,  my  little  dear?"  are  some  of  the  questions 
which  every  one  has  probably  heard  proposed  to  chil- 
dren of  five  or  six  years  old.  Children  who  have  not 
learned  by  rote  the  expected  answers  to  such  interroga- 
tories, stand  in  amazed  silence  upon  these  occasions  ; 
or  else  answer  at  random,  having  no  possible  means  of 
forming  any  judgment  upon  such  subjects.  We  have 

*  See  Tasks.  t  Chapter  on  Acquaintance. 


WIT  AND  JUDGMENT:  469 

often  thought,  in  listening  to  the  conversations  of  grown- 
up people  with  children,  that  the  children  reasoned  in- 
finitely better  than  their  opponents.  People  who  are 
not  interested  in  the  education  of  children,  do  not  care 
what  arguments  they  use,  what  absurdities  they  utter, 
in  talking  to  them ;  they  usually  talk  to  them  of  things 
which  are  totally  above  their  comprehension ;  and  they 
instil  error  and  prejudice,  without  the  smallest  degree  of 
compunction ;  indeed,  without  in  the  least  knowing  what 
they  are  about.  We  earnestly  repeat  our  advice  to  pa- 
rents, to  keep  their  children  as  much  as  possible  from 
such  conversation  :  children  will  never  reason  if  they  are 
allowed  to  hear  or  to  talk  nonsense. 

When  we  say  that  children  should  not  be  suffered  to 
talk  nonsense,  we  should  observe,  that  unless  they  have 
been  in  the  habit  of  hearing  foolish  conversation,  they 
very  seldom  talk  nonsense.  They  may  express  them- 
selves in  a  manner  which  we  do  not  understand,  or  they 
may  make  mistakes  from  not  accurately  comprehending 
the  words  of  others ;  but  in  these  cases,  we  should  not 
reprove  or  silence  them ;  we  should  patiently  endeavour 
to  find  out  their  hidden  meaning.  If  we  rebuke  or  ridi- 
cule them,  we  shall  intimidate  them,  and  either  lessen 
their  confidence  in  themselves  or  in  us.  In  the  one  case, 
we  prevent  them  from  thinking ;  in  the  other,  we  deter 
them  from  communicating  their  thoughts ;  and  thus 
we'  preclude  ourselves  from  the  possibility  of  assisting 
them  in  reasoning.  To  show  parents  the  nature  of  the 
mistakes  which  children  make  from  their  imperfect 
knowledge  of  words,  we  shall  give  a  few  examples  from 
real  life. 

S — - — ,  at  five  years  old,  when  he  heard  some  one 

speak  of  bay  horses,  said  he  supposed  that  the  bay  horses 

must  be  the  best  horses.     Upon  crossquestioning  him. 

it  appeared  that  he  was  led  to  this  conclusion  by  the 

analogy  between  the  sounds  of  the  words  bay  and  obey. 

s  A  few  days  previous  to  this,  his  father  had  told  him  that 

*   spirited  horses  were  always  the  most  ready  to  obey. 

These  erroneous  analogies  between  the  sound  of 
words  and  their  sense,  frequently  mislead  children  in 
reasoning ;  we  should,  therefore,  encourage  children  to 
explain  themselves  fully,  that  we  may  rectify  their  er- 
rors. 

When  S was  between  four  and  five  years  old,  a 

lady  who  had  taken  him  upon  her  lap,  playfully  put  her 


470  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

hands  before  his  eyes,  and  (we  believe)  asked  if  he  liked 

to  be  blinded.     S said  no ;  and  he  looked  very 

thoughtful.  After  a  pause,  he  added,  "  Smellie  says 
that  children  like  better  to  be  blinded  than  to  have  their 

legs  tied."    (S had  read  this  in  Smellie  two  or  three 

days  before.) 

Father.  "  Are  you  of  Smellie's  opinion  ?" 

£ hesitated. 

Father.  "Would  you  rather  be  blinded,  or  have  your 
legs  tied  ?" 

S .  "  I  would  rather  have  my  legs  tied  not  quite 

tight." 

Father.  "  Do  you  know  what  is  meant  by  blinded  ?" 

S .  "  Having  their  eyes  put  out." 

Father.  "  How  do  you  mean  ?" 

<S .  "  To  put  something  into  the  eye  to  make  the 

blood  burst  out ;  and  then  the  blood  would  come  all  over 
it,  and  cover  it,  and  stick  to  it,  and  hinder  them  from 
seeing — I  don't  know  how." 

It  is  obvious  that  while  this  boy's  imagination  pictured 
to  him  a  bloody  orb  when  he  heard  the  word  blinded,  he 
was  perfectly  right  in  his  reasoning  in  preferring  to  have 
his  legs  tied ;  but  he  did  not  judge  of  the  proposition 
meant  to  be  laid  before  him ;  he  judged  of  another,  which 
he  had  formed  for  himself.  His  father  explained  to  him 
that  Smellie  meant  blindfolded,  instead  of  blinded;  a 
handkerchief  was  then  tied  round  the  boy's  head,  so  as 
to  hinder  him  from  seeing,  and  he  was  made  perfectly 
to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  word  blindfolded. 

In  such  trifles  as  these,  it  may  appear  of  little  conse- 
quence to  rectify  the  verbal  errors  of  children ;  but  ex- 
actly the  same  species  of  mistake  will  prevent  them 
from  reasoning  accurately  in  matters  of  consequence. 
It  will  not  cost  us  much  trouble  to  detect  these  mis- 
takes when  the  causes  of  them  are  yet  recent ;  but  it 
will  give  us  infinite  trouble  to  retrace  thoughts  which 
have  passed  in  infancy.  When  prejudices,  or  the  habits 
of  reasoning  inaccurately,  have  been  formed,  we  cannot 
easily  discover  or  remedy  the  remote  trifling  origin  of 
the  evil. 

When  children  begin  to  inquire  about  causes,  they  are 
not  able  to  distinguish  between  coincidence  and  causa- 
tion :  we  formerly  observed  the  effect  which  this  igno- 
rance produces  upon  their  temper ;  we  must  now  ob- 
serve its  effect  upon  their  understanding.  A  little  reflec- 


•  WIT    AND  JUDGMENT.  471 

tion  upon  our  own  minds  will  prevent  us  from  feeling 
that  stupid  amazement,  or  from  expressing  that  insult- 
ing contempt,  which  the  natural  thoughts  of  children 
sometimes  excite  in  persons  who  have  frequently  less 
understanding  than  their  pupils.  What  account  can  we 
give  of  the  connexion  between  cause  and  effect  ?  How 
is  the  idea  that  one  thing  is  the  cause  of  another,  first 
produced  in  our  minds  ?  All  that  we  know  is,  that 
among  human  events,  those  which  precede  are  in  some 
cases  supposed  to  produce  what  follow.  When  we  have 
observed,  in  several  instances,  that  one  event  constantly 
precedes  another,  we  believe  and  expect  that  these 
events  will  in  future  recur  together.  Before  children 
have  had  experience,  it  is  scarcely  po'ssible  that  they 
should  distinguish  between  fortuitous  circumstances  and 
causation ;  accidental  coincidences  of  time  and  juxta- 
position, continually  lead  them  into  error.  We  should 
not  accuse  children  of  reasoning  ill ;  we  should  not  ima- 
gine that  they  are  defective  in  judgment  when  they 
make  mistakes  from  deficient  experience ;  we  should 
only  endeavour  to  make  them  delay  to  decide  until  they 
have  repeated  their  experiments ;  and,  at  all  events,  we 
should  encourage  them  to  lay  open  their  minds  to  us, 
that  we  may  assist  them  by  our  superior  knowledge. 

This  spring,  little  W (three  years  old)  was  look- 
ing at  a  man  who  was  mowing  the  grass  before  the  door. 
It  had  been  raining,  and  when  the  sun  shone  the  vapour 
began  to  rise  from  the  grass.  "  Does  the  man  mowing 
make  the  smoke  rise  from  the  grass  V  said  the  little  boy. 
He  was  not  laughed  at  for  this  simple  question.  The 
man's  mowing  immediately  preceded  the  rising  of  the 
vapour ;  the  child  had  never  observed  a  man  mowing 
before,  and  it  was  absolutely  impossible  that  he  could 
tell  what  effects  might  be  produced  by  it ;  he  very  natu- 
rally imagined  that  the  event  which  immediately  pre- 
ceded the  rising  of  the  vapour,  was  the  cause  of  its  rise  ; 
the  sun  was  at  a  distance — the  scythe  was  near  the 
grass.  The  little  boy  showed,  by  the  tone  of  his  in- 
quiry, that  he  was  in  the  philosophic  state  of  doubt  • 
had  he  been  ridiculed  for  his  question— had  he  been 
told  that  he  talked  nonsense,  he  would  not,  upon  an- 
other occasion,  have  told  us  his  thoughts,  and  he  cer- 
tainly could  not  have  improved  in  reasoning. 

The  way  to  improve  children  in  their  judgment  with 
respect  to  causation,  is,  to  increase  their  knowledge  and 


472   ,         PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

to  lead  them  to  try  experiments  by  which  they  may  dis- 
cover what  circumstances  are  essential  to  the  produc- 
tion of  any  given  effect,  and  what  are  merely  acces- 
sory, unimportant  concomitants  of  the  event.* 

A  child  who,  for  the  first  time,  sees  blue  and  red  paints 
mixed  together  to  produce  purple,  could  not  be  certain 
that  the  palette  on  which  these  colours  were  mixed,  the 
spatula  with  which  they  were  tempered,  were  not  neces- 
sary circumstances.  In  many  cases,  the  vessels  in  which 
things  are  mixed  are  essential;  therefore,  a  sensible 
child  would  repeat  the  experiment  exactly  in  the  same 
manner  in  which  he  had  seen  it  succeed.  This  exact- 
ness should  not  be  suffered  to  become  indolent  imitation, 
or  superstitious  adherence  to  particular  forms.  Chil- 
dren should  be  excited  to  add  or  deduct  particulars  in 
trying  experiments,  and  to  observe  the  effects  of  these 
changes.  In  "  Chymistry"  and  "  Mechanics"  we  have 
pointed  out  a  variety  of  occupations,  in  which  the  judg- 
ment of  children  may  be  exercised  upon  the  immediate 
objects  of  their  senses. 

It  is  natural,  perhaps,  that  we  should  expect  our  pu- 
pils to  show  surprise  at  those  things  which  excite  sur- 
prise in  our  minds ;  but  we  should  consider  that  almost 
every  thing  is  new  to  children ;  and,  therefore,  there  is 
scarcely  any  gradation  in  their  astonishment.  A  child 
of  three  or  four  years  old  would  be  as  much  amused, 
and  probably  as  much  surprised,  by  seeing  a  paper  kite 
fly,  as  he  could  be  by  beholding  the  ascent  of  a  balloon. 
We  should  not  attribute  this  to  stupidity  or  want  of 
judgment,  but  simply  to  ignorance. 

A  few  days  ago,  W (three  years  old),  who  was 

learning  his  letters,  was  permitted  to  sow  an  o  in  the 
garden  with  mustard  seed.  W — —  was  much  pleased 
with  the  operation.  When  the  green  plants  appeared 

above  ground,  it  was  expected  that  W would  be 

much  surprised  at  seeing  the  exact  shape  of  his  o. 
He  was  taken  to  look  at  it ;  but  he  showed  no  surprise, 
no  sort  of  emotion. 

We  have  advised  that  the  judgment  of  children  should 
be  exercised  upon  the  objects  of  their  senses.  It  is 
scarcely  possible  that  they  should  reason  upon  the  sub- 
jects which  are  sometimes  proposed  to  them :  with  re- 
spect to  manners  and  society,  they  have  had  no  experi- 

»  See  Stewart. 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT.  473 

ence — consequently  they  can  form  no  judgments.  By 
imprudently  endeavouring  to  turn  the  attention  of  chil- 
dren to  conversation  that  is  unsuited  to  them,  people 
may  give  the  appearance  of  early  intelligence,  and  a  cer- 
tain readiness  of  repartee  and  fluency  of  expression ; 
but  these  are  transient  advantages.  Smart,  witty  chil- 
dren, amuse  the  circle  for  a  few  hours,  and  are  forgot- 
ten :  and  we  may  observe,  that  almost  all  children  who 
are  praised  and  admired  for  sprightliness  and  wit,  reason 
absurdly,  and  continue  ignorant.  Wit  and  judgment  de- 
pend upon  different  opposite  habits  of  the  mind.  Wit 
searches  for  remote  resemblances  between  objects  or 
thoughts  apparently  dissimilar.  Judgment  compares 
the  objects  placed  before  it,  in  order  to  find  out  their 
differences,  rather  than  their  resemblances.  The  com- 
parisons of  judgment  may  be  slow ;  those  of  wit  must 
be  rapid.  The  same  power  of  attention  in  children  may 
produce  either  wit  or  judgment.  Parents  must  decide  in 
which  faculty,  or,  rather,  in  which  of  these  habits  of  the 
mind,  they  wish  their  pupils  to  excel ;  and  they  must 
conduct  their  education  accordingly.  Those  who  are 
desirous  to  make  their  pupils  witty,  must  sacrifice  some 
portion  of  their  judgment  to  the  acquisition  of  the  talent 
for  wit ;  they  must  allow  their  children  to  talk  fre- 
quently at  random.  Among  a  multitude  of  hazarded 
observations,  a  happy  hit  is  now  and  then  made :  for 
these  happy  hits,  children  who  are  to  be  made  wits 
should  be  praised;  and  they  must  acquire  sufficient 
courage  to  speak  from  a  cursory  view  of  things  ;  there- 
fore the  mistakes  they  make  from  superficial  examina- 
tion must  not  be  pointed  out  to  them  ;  their  attention 
must  be  turned  to  the  comic,  rather  than  to  the  serious 
side  of  objects  ;  they  must  study  the  different  meanings 
and  powers  of  words ;  they  should  hear  witty  conversa- 
tion, read  epigrams  and  comedies  ;  and  in  all  company 
they  should  be  exercised  before  numbers  in  smart  dia- 
logue and  repartee. 

When  we  mention  the  methods  of  educating  a  child  to 
be  witty,  we  at  the  same  time  point  out  the  dangers  of 
this  education  ;  and  it  is  but  just  to  warn  parents  against 
expecting  inconsistent  qualities  from  their  pupils.  Those 
who  steadily  prefer  the  solid  advantages  of  judgment  to 
the  transient  brilliancy  of  wit,  should  not  be  mortified 
when  they  see  their  children,  perhaps,  deficient  at  nine 
or  ten  years  old  in  the  showy  talents  for  general  conver- 


474  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

sation ;  they  must  bear  to  see  their  pupils  appear  slov  , 
they  must  bear  the  contrast  of  flippant  gayety  and  sober 
simplicity  ;  they  must  pursue  exactly  an  opposite  course 
to  that  which  has  been  recommended  for  the  education 
of  wits ;  they  must  never  praise  their  pupils  for  hazard- 
ing observations ;  they  must  cautiously  point  out  any 
mistakes  that  are  made  from  a  precipitate  survey  of  ob- 
jects ;  they  should  not  harden  their  pupils  against  that 
feeling  of  shame  which  arises  in  the  mind  from  the  per- 
ception of  having  uttered  an  absurdity ;  they  should 
never  encourage  their  pupils  to  play  upon  words  ;  and 
their  admiration  of  wit  should  never  be  vehemently  or 
enthusiastically  expressed. 

We  shall  give  a  few  examples  to  convince  parents, 
that  children  whose  reasoning  powers  have  been  culti- 
vated, are  rather  slow  in  comprehending  and  in  admiring 
wit.  They  require  to  have  it  explained,  they  want  to 
settle  the  exact  justice  and  morality  of  the  repartee,  be- 
fore they  will  admire  it. 

(November  20th,  1796.)  To-day  at  dinner  the  con- 
versation happened  to  turn  upon  wit.  Somebody  men- 
tioned the  well-known  reply  of  the  hackney-coachman 
to  Pope.  S ,  a  boy  of  nine  years  old,  listened  at- 
tentively, but  did  not  seem  to  understand  it ;  his  father 
endeavoured  to  explain  it  to  him.  "  Pope  was  a  little, 
ill-made  man ;  his  favourite  exclamation  was,  '  God 
mend  me  !'  Now,  when  he  was  in  a  passion  with  the 
hackney-coachman,  he  cried,  as  usual,  '  God  mend  me !' 
*  Mend  you,  sir  1'  said  the  coachman  ;  '  it  would  be  easier 
to  make  a  new  one.'  Do  you  understand  this  now, 

s — i" 

S~- —  looked  dull  upon  it,  and,  after  some  minutes' 
consideration,  said,  "  Yes,  Pope  was  ill-made  ;  the  man 
meant  it  would  be  better  to  make  a  new  one  than  to 

mend  him."  S did  not  yet  seem  to  taste  the  wit  ; 

he  took  the  answer  literally,  and  understood  it  soberly. 

Immediately  afterward,  the  officer's  famous  reply  to 

Pope  was  told  to  S .  About  ten  days  after  this 

conversation,  S said  to  his  sister,  "  I  wonder, 

M — — ,  that  people  don't  oftener  laugh  at  crooked  peo- 
ple ;  like  the  officer  who  called  Pope  a  note  of  inter- 
rogation." 

M — -.  "  It  would  be  illnatured  to  laugh  at  them." 

/S .  "  But  you  all  praised  that  man  for  saying  that 

about  Pope.  You  did  not  think  him  illnatured." 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT.  475 

Mr. .  "  No,  because  Pope  had  been  impertinent 

to  him." 

S .  "How?" 

M .  "  Don't  you  remember,  that  when  the  officer 

said  that  a  note  of  interrogation  would  make  the  pas- 
sage clear,  Pope  turned  round,  and  looking  at  him  with 
great  contempt,  asked  if  he  knew  what  a  note  of  inter- 
rogation was  1" 

S .  "  Yes,  I  remember  that ;  but  I  do  not  think 

that  was  very  impertinent,  because  Pope  might  not 
know  whether  the  man  knew  it  or  not." 

Mr. .  "  Very  true :  but  then  you  see,  that  Pope 

took  it  for  granted  that  the  officer  was  extremely  igno- 
rant ;  a  boy  who  is  just  learning  to  read  knows  what  a 
note  of  interrogation  is." 

S (thoughtfully.)  "  Yes,  it  was  rude  of  Pope  ;  but 

then  the  man  was  an  officer,  and,  therefore,  it  was  very 
likely  that  he  might  be  ignorant ;  you  know  you  said 
that  officers  were  often  very  ignorant." 

Mr. .  "  I  said  often ;  but  not  always.  Young  men, 

I  told  you,  who  are  tired  of  books,  and  ambitious  of  a 
red  coat,  often  go  into  the  army  to  save  themselves  the 
trouble  of  acquiring  the  knowledge  necessary  for  other 
professions.  A  man  cannot  be  a  good  lawyer,  or  a  good 
physician,  without  having  acquired  a  great  deal  of  knowl- 
edge ;  but  an  officer  need  have  little  knowledge  to  know 
how  to  stand  to  be  shot  at.  But  though  it  may  be  true 
in  general,  that  officers  are  often  ignorant,  it  is  not 
necessary  that  they  should  be  so ;  a  man  in  a  red  coat 
may  have  as  much  knowledge  as  a  man  in  a  black,  or  a 
blue  one  •  therefore,  no  sensible  person  should  decide 
that  a  man  is  ignorant  merely  because  he  is  an  officer, 
as  Pope  did.'1 

£ .  "  No,  to  be  sure.     I  understand  now." 

M .  "  But,  I  thought,  S ,  you  understood  this 

before." 

Mr. .  "  He  is  very  right  not  to  let  it  pass  without 

understanding  it  thoroughly.  You  are  very  right,  S , 

not  to  swallow  things  whole  ;  chew  them  well." 

S looked  as  if  he  was  still  chewing. 

M .  "  What  are  you  thinking  of,  S 1" 

S .  "  Of  the  man's  laughing  at  Pope  for  being 

crooked." 

Mr. .  "  If  Pope  had  not  said  any  thing  rude  to 

ihat  man,  the  man  would  have  done  very  wrong  to  laugh 


476  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

at  him.  If  the  officer  had  walked  into  a  coffee-house, 
and,  pointing  at  Pope,  had  said,  '  there's  a  little  crooked 
thing,  like  a  note  of  interrogation,'  people  might  have 
been  pleased  with  his  wit  in  seeing  that  resemblance, 
but  they  would  have  disliked  his  illnature  ;  and  those 
who  knew  Mr.  Pope,  would  probably  have  answered, 
'  Yes,  sir,  but  that  crooked  little  man  is  one  of  the  most 
witty  men  in  England  ;  he  is  the  great  poet,  Mr.  Pope.' 
But  when  Mr.  Pope  had  insulted  the  officer,  the  case 
was  altered.  Now,  if  the  officer  had  simply  answered, 
when  he  was  asked  what  a  note  of  interrogation  was, 
*  a  little  crooked  thing ;'  and  if  he  had  looked  at  Pope 
from  head  to  foot  as  he  spoke  these  words,  everybody's 
attention  would  have  been  turned  upon  Pope's  figure ; 
but  then  the  officer  would  have  reproached  him  only  for 
his  personal  defects :  by  saying,  '  a  little  crooked  thing 
that  asks  questions,''  the  officer  reproved  Pope  for  his  im- 
pertinence. Pope  had  just  asked  him  a  question,  and 
everybody  perceived  the  double  application  of  the  an- 
swer. It  was  an  exact  description  of  a  note  of  interro- 
gation, and  of  Mr.  Pope.  It  is  this  sort  of  partial  resem- 
blance quickly  pointed  out  between  things,  which  at 
first  appear  very  unlike,  that  surprises  and  pleases  peo- 
ple, and  they  call  it  wit." 

How  difficult  it  is  to  explain  wit  to  a  child  !  and  how 
much  more  difficult  to  fix  its  value  and  morality  !  About 
a  month  after  this  conversation  had  passed,  S re- 
turned to  the  charge  :  his  mind  had  not  been  completely 
settled  about  wit. 

(January  9th,  1796.)  "  So,  S ,  you  don't  yet  un- 
derstand wit,  I  see,"  said  M to  him,  when  he  looked 

very  grave  at  something  that  was  said  to  him  in  jest. 
S immediately  asked,  "  What  is  wit  ]" 

M answered  (laughing),"  Wit  is  the  folly  of  grown- 
up people." 

Mr. .  "  How  can  you  give  the  boy  such  an  an- 
swer1? Come  to  me,  my  dear,  and  I'll  try  if  I  can  give 
you  a  better.  There  are  two  kinds  of  wit,  one  which 
depends  upon  words,  and  another  which  depends  upon 
thoughts.  I  will  give  you  an  instance  of  wit  depending 
upon  words : 

" '  Hear  yonder  beggar,  how  he  cries, 
I  am  so  lame  I  cannot  rise  * 
If  he  tells  truth,  he  lies.'" 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT  477 

"  Do  you  understand  that  ?" 

5 .  "  No  !  If  he  tells  truth,  he  lies  !  No,  he  can't 

both  tell  truth  and  tell  a  lie  at  the  same  time  ;  that's  im- 
possible." 

Mr.  .  "  Then  there  is  something  in  the  words 

which  you  don't  understand  :  in  the  common  sense  of  the 
words,  they  contradict  each  other ;  but  try  if  you  can 
find  out  any  uncommon  sense — any  word  which  can  be 
understood  in  two  senses." 

S muttered  the  words,  "  If  he  tells  truth,  he  lies," 

and  looked  indignant,  but  presently  said,  "  Oh,  now  I  un- 
derstand ;  the  beggar  was  lying  down;  he  lies,  means 
he  lies  down,  not,  he  tells  a  lie." 

The  perception  of  the  double  meaning  of  the  words 
did  not  seem  to  please  this  boy ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
seemed  to  provoke  him  ;  and  he  appeared  to  think  that 
he  had  wasted  his  time  upon  the  discovery. 

Mr. .  "  Now  I  will  give  you  an  instance  of  wit 

that  depends  upon  the  ideas  rather  than  on  the  words. 
A  man  of  very  bad  character  had  told  falsehoods  of 
another,  who  then  made  these  two  lines  : 

"  '  Lie  on,  whilst  my  revenge  shall  be, 
To  tell  the  very  truth  of  thee.' " 

<S approved  of  this  immediately  and  heartily,  and 

recollected  the  only  epigram  he  knew  by  rote,  one  which 
he  had  heard  in  conversation  two  or  three  months  be- 
fore this  time.  It  was  made  upon  a  tall,  stupid  man, 
who  had  challenged  another  to  make  an  epigram  extem- 
pore upon  him. 

"  Unlike  to  Robinson  shall  be  my  song ; 
It  shall  be  witty,  and  it  shan't  be  long." 

At  the  time  S first  heard  this  epigram,  he  had 

been  as  slow  in  comprehending  it  as  possible ;  but  after 
it  had  been  thoroughly  explained,  it  pleased  him,  and 
remained  fixed  in  his  memory. 

Mr. observed,  that  this  epigram  contained  wit 

both  in  words  and  in  ideas :  and  he  gave  S one 

other  example.  "  There  were  two  contractors  ;  I  mean 
people  who  make  a  bargain  with  government,  or  with 
those  who  govern  the  country,  to  supply  them  with  cer- 
tain things  at  a  certain  price  ;  there  were  two  con- 
tractors, one  of  whom  was  employed  to  supply  govern- 
ment with  corn  ;  the  other  agreed  to  supply  government 


478  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 


with  rum.  Now,  you  know,  corn  may  be  called  grain, 
and  rum  may  be  called  spirit.  Both  these  contractors 
cheated  in  their  bargain;  both  their  names  were  the 
same  ;  and  the  following  epigram  was  made  on  them : 

"  '  Both  of  a  name,  lo !  two  contractors  come ; 
One  cheats  in  corn,  and  t'other  cheats  in  rum. 
Which  is  the  greater,  if  you  can,  explain, 
A  rogue  in  spirit,  or  a  rogue  in  grain  ?' 

"  Spirit"  continued  Mr. ,  "  has  another  sense,  you 

know — will,  intention,  soul;  he  has  the  spirit  of  a 
rogue ;  she  has  the  spirit  of  contradiction.  And  grain 
has  also  another  meaning ;  the  grain  of  this  table,  the 
grain  of  your  coat.  Died  in  grain,  means  died  into  the 
substance  of  the  material,  so  that  the  die  can't  be  washed 
out.  A  rogue  in  grain,  means  a  man  whose  habit  of 
cheating  is  fixed  in  his  mind  :  and  it  is  difficult  to  deter- 
mine which  is  the  worst,  a  man  who  has  the  wish,  or  a 
man  who  has  the  habit,  of  doing  wrong.  At  first  it 
seems  as  if  you  were  only  asked  which  was  the  worst, 
to  cheat  in  selling  grain,  or  in  selling  spirit ;  but  the 
concealed  meaning  makes  the  question  both  sense 
and  wit." 

These  detailed  examples,  we  fear,  may  appear  tire- 
some ;  but  we  knew  not  how,  without  them,  to  explain 
ourselves  fully.  We  should  add,  for  the  consolation  of 
those  who  admire  wit,  and  we  are  among  the  number 
ourselves,  that  it  is  much  more  likely  that  wit  should 
be  ingrafted  upon  judgment,  than  that  judgment  should 
be  ingrafted  upon  wit.  The  boy  whom  we  have  just 
mentioned,  who  was  so  slow  in  comprehending  the  na- 
ture of  wit,  was  asked  whether  he  could  think  of  any 
answer  that  Pope  might  have  made  to  the  officer  who 
called  him  a  note  of  interrogation. 

S— — .  "  Is  there  any  note  which  means  answer  ?" 

Mr. "  I  don't  know  what  you  mean." 

-S .  "Any  note  which  means  answer,  as like 

the  note  of  interrogation,  which  shows  that  a  question 
is  asked  ?" 

Mr. .  "  No  ;  but  if  there  were,  what  then  ?" 

S .  "Pope  might  have  called  the  man  that  note." 

3 could  not  exactly  explain  his  idea ;  somebody 

who  was  present  said,  that  if  he  had  been  in  Pope's 
place,  he  would  have  called  the  officer  a  note  of  admi- 
ration. S would  have  made  this  answer,  if  he  had 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT.  479 

been  familiarly  acquainted  with  the  name  of  the  note  of 
admiration.  His  judgment  taught  him  how  to  set  about 
looking  for  a  proper  answer;  but  it  could  not  lead  him 
to  the  exact  place,  for  want  of  experience. 

We  hope  that  we  have,  in  the  chapter  on  books,  fully 
explained  the  danger  of  accustoming. children  to  read 
what  they  do  not  understand.  Poetry,  they  cannot  early 
comprehend ;  and  even  if  they  do  understand  it,  they 
cannot  improve  their  reasoning  faculty  by  poetic  stud- 
ies. The  analogies  of  poetry  and  of  reasoning,  are  very 
different.  "  The  muse,"  says  an  excellent  judge  upon 
this  subject,  "would  make  but  an  indifferent  school- 
mistress." We  include  under  the  head  of  poetry,  all 
books  in  which  declamation  and  eloquence  are  substi- 
tuted for  reasoning.  We  should  accustom  our  pupils  to 
judge  strictly  of  the  reasoning  which  they  meet  with  in 
books  ;  no  names  of  high  authority  should  ever  preclude 
an  author's  arguments  from  examination. 

The  following  passage  from  St.  Pierre's  Etudes  de  la 

Nature,  was  read  to  two  boys ;  H ,  fourteen  years 

old ;  S ,  ten  years  old. 

"•Hurtful  insects  present  (the  same)  oppositions  and 
signs  of  destruction ;  the  gnat,  thirsty  of  human  blood, 
announces  himself  to  our  sight  by  the  white  spots  with 
which  his  brown  body  is  speckled ;  and  by  the  shrill 
sound  of  his  wings,  which  interrupts  the  calm  of  the 
groves,  he  announces  himself  to  our  ear  as  well  as  to 
our  eye.  The  carnivorous  wasp  is  streaked  like  the 
tiger,  with  bands  of  black  over  a  yellow  ground." 

H and  S both  at  once  exclaimed,  that  these 

spots  in  the  gnat,  and  streaks  in  the  wasp,  had  nothing 
to  do  with  their  stinging  us.  "  The  buzzing  of  the  gnat," 

said  S -,  "  would  be  a  very  agreeable  sound  to  us,  if 

we  did  not  know  that  the  gnat  would  sting,  and  that  it 
was  coming  near  us  ;  and  as  to  the  wasp,  I  remember 
stopping  one  day  upon  the  stairs  to  look  at  the  beauti- 
ful black  and  yellow  body  of  a  wasp.  I  did  not  think 
of  danger,  nor  of  its  stinging  me  then,  and  I  did  not 
know  that  it  was  like  the  tiger.  After  I  had  been  stung 
by  a  wasp,  I  did  not  think  a  wasp  such  a  beautiful  ani- 
mal. 1  think  it  is  very  often  from  o,ur  knowing  that 
animals  can  hurt  us,  that  we  think  them  ugly.  We 
might  as  well  say,"  continued  S ,  pointing  to  a  cro- 
cus which  was  near  him,  "  we  might  as  well  say,  that  a 
man  who  has  a  yellow  face  has  the  same  disposition  as 


480  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

that  crocus,  or  that  the  crocus  is  in  every  thing  like  the 
man,  because  it  is  yellow." 

Cicero's  "  curious  consolation  for  deafness"  is  prop- 
erly noticed  by  Mr.  Hume.  It  was  read  to  S a  few 

days  ago,  to  try  whether  he  could  detect  the  sophistry  : 
he  was  not  previously  told  what  was  thought  of  it  by 
others. 

"  How  many  languages  are  there,"  says  Cicero, "  which 
you  do  not  understand  ?  The  Punic,  Spanish,  Gallic, 
Egyptian,  &c.  With  regard  to  all  these,  you  are  as  if 
you  were  deaf,  and  yet  you  are  indifferent  about  the 
matter.  Is  it  then  so  great  a  misfortune  to  be  deaf  to 
one  language  more  ?" 

"  I  don't  think,"  said  S ,  "  that  was  at  all  a  good 

way  to  console  the  man,  because  it  was  putting  him  in 
mind  that  he  was  more  deaf  than  he  thought  he  was. 
He  did  not  think  of  those  languages,  perhaps,  till  he  was 
put  in  mind  that  he  could  not  hear  them." 

In  stating  any  question  to  a  child,  we  should  avoid 
letting  our  own  opinion  be  known,  lest  we  lead  or  intim- 
idate his  mind.  We  should  also  avoid  all  appearance 
of  anxiety,  all  impatience  for  the  answer ;  our  pupil's 
mind  should  be  in  a  calm  state  when  he  is  to  judge  :  if 
we  turn  his  sympathetic  attention  to  our  hopes  and 
fears,  we  agitate  him,  and  he  will  judge  by  our  counte- 
nances rather  than  by  comparing  the  objects  or  propo- 
sitions which  are  laid  before  him.  Some  people,  in 
arguing  with  children,  teach  them  to  be  disingenuous 
by  the  uncandid  manner  in  which  they  proceed ;  they 
show  a  desire  for  victory,  rather  than  for  truth  ;  they 
state  the  arguments  only  on  their  own  side  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  they  will  not  allow  the  force  of  those  which 
are  brought  against  them.  Children  are  thus  piqued, 
instead  of  being  convinced,  and  in  their  turn  they  be- 
come zealots  in  support  of  their  own  opinions ;  they 
hunt  only  for  arguments  in  their  own  favour,  and  they 
are  mortified  when  a  good  reason  is  brought  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  the  question  to  that  on  which  they  happen 
to  have  enlisted.  To  prevent  this,  we  should  never  ar- 
gue, or  suffer  others  to  argue,  for  victory  with  our  pupils ; 
we  should  not  praise  them  for  their  cleverness  in  rind- 
ing out  arguments  in  support  of  their  own  opinion  ;  but 
we  should  praise  their  candour  and  good  sense  when 
they  perceive  and  acknowledge  the  force  of  their  oppo- 
nent's arguments.  They  should  not  be  exercised  as 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT.  481 

advocates,  but  as  judges;  they  should  be  encouraged  to 
keep  their  minds  impartial,  to  sum  up  the  reasons  which 
they  have  heard,  and  to  form  their  opinion  from  these 
without  regard  to  what  they  may  have  originally  as- 
serted. We  should  never  triumph  over  children  for 
changing  their  opinion.  "  I  thought  you  were  on  my 
side  of  the  question;"  or,  "I  thought  "you  were  on  the 
other  side  of  the  question  just  now !"  is  sometimes 
tauntingly  said  to  an  ingenuous  child,  who  changes  his 
opinion  when  he  hears  a  new  argument.  You  think  it 
a  proof  of  his  want  of  judgment,  that  he  changes  his 
opinion  in  this  manner;  that  he  vibrates  continually 
from  side  to  side  :  let  him  vibrate,  presently  he  will  be 
fixed.  Do  you  think  it  a  proof  that  your  scales  are  bad, 
because  they  vibrate  with  every  additional  weight  that 
is  added  to  either  side  ? 

Idle  people  sometimes  amuse  themselves  with  trying; 
the  judgment  of  children,  by  telling  them  improbable, 
extravagant  stories,  and  then  asking  the  simple  listen- 
ers whether  they  believe  what  has  been  told  them.  The 
readiness  of  belief  in  children  will  be  always  propor- 
tioned to  their  experience  of  the  veracity  of  those  with 
whom  they  converse ;  consequently,  children  who  live 
with  those  who  speak  truth  to  them,  will  scarcely  ever 
be  inclined  to  doubt  the  veracity  of  strangers.  Such 
trfals  of  the  judgment  of  our  pupils  should  never  be  per- 
mitted. Why  should  the  example  of  lying  be  set  before 
the  honest  minds  of  children,  who  are  far  from  silly 
when  they  show  simplicity  ?  They  guide  themselves 
by  the  best  rules,  by  which  even  a  philosopher  in  simi- 
lar circumstances  could  guide  himself.  The  things  as- 
serted are  extraordinary,  but  the  children  believe  them, 
because  they  have  never  had  any  experience  of  the 
falsehood  of  human  testimony. 

The  Socratic  mode  of  reasoning  is  frequently  prac- 
tised upon  children.  People  arrange  questions  artfully, 
so  as  to  bring  them  to  whatever  conclusion  they  please. 
In  this  mode  of  reasoning,  much  depends  upon  getting 
the  first  move  ;  the  child  has  very  little  chance  of  hav- 
ing it ;  his  preceptor  usually  begins  first  with  a  peremp- 
tory voice,  "  Now  answer  me  this  question  !"  The  pu- 
pil, who  knows  that  the  interrogatories  are  put  with  a 
design  to  entrap  him,  is  immediately  alarmed ;  and  in- 
stead of  giving  a  direct,  candid  answer  to  the  question, 
is  always  looking  forward  to  the  possible  consequences 
41 


482  PRACTICAL  KDUCATION. 

of  his  reply  ;  or  he  is  considering  how  he  may  evade 
the  snare  that  is  laid  for  him.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, he  is  in  imminent  danger  of  learning  the  shuffling 
habits  of  cunning ;  he  has  little  chance  of  learning  the 
nature  of  open,  manly  investigation. 

Preceptors  who  imagine  that  it  is  necessary  to  put 
on  very  grave  faces,  and  to  use  much  learned  apparatus 
in  teaching  the  art  of  reasoning,  are  not  nearly  so  likely 
to  succeed  as  those  who  have  the  happy  art  of  encour- 
aging children  to  lay  open  their  minds  freely,  and  who 
can  make  every  pleasing  trifle  an  exercise  for  the  un- 
derstanding. If  it  be  playfully  pointed  out  to  a  child 
that  he  reasons  ill,  he  smiles  and  corrects  himself;  but 
you  run  the  hazard  of  making  him  positive  in  error,  if 
you  reprove  or  ridicule  him  with  severity.  It  is  better 
to  seize  the  subjects  that  accidentally  arise  in  conver- 
sation, than  formally  to  prepare  subjects  for  discussion. 

"  The  king's  stag  hounds"  (says  Mr.  White  of  Sel- 
bourne,  in  his  entertaining  observations  on  quadrupeds),* 
"  the  king's  stag  hounds  came  down  to  Alton,  attended 
by  a  huntsman  and  six  yeoman  prickers  with  horns,  to 
try  for  the  stag  that  has  haunted  Hartley-wood  and  its 
environs  for  so  long  a  time.  Many  hundreds  of  people, 
horse  and  foot,  attended  the  dogs  to  see  the  deer  unhar- 
boured  ;  but  though  the  huntsman  drew  Hartley-wood, 
and  long-coppice,  and  Shrubwood,  and  Temple-hangers, 
and  in  their  way  back,  Hartley,  and  Wardleham-hangers, 
yet  no  stag  could  be  found. 

"  The  royal  pack,  accustomed  to  have  the  deer  turned 
out  before  them,  never  drew  the  coverts  with  any  address 
and  spirit"  &c. 

Children  who  are  accustomed  to  have  the  game 
started  and  turned  out  before  them  by  their  preceptors, 
may,  perhaps,  like  the  royal  pack,  lose  their  wonted  ad- 
dress and  spirit,  and  may  be  disgracefully  at  a  fault  in 
the  public  chase.  Preceptors  should  not  help  their  pu- 
pils out  in  argument ;  they  should  excite  them  to  explain 
and  support  their  own  observations. 

Many  ladies  show,  in  general,  conversation  the  powers 
of  easy  raillery  joined  to  reasoning,  unencumbered  with 
pedantry.  If  they  would  employ  these  talents  in  the 
education  of  their  children,  they  would  probably  be  as 

*  A  Naturalist's  Calendar,  by  the  late  Rev.  Gilbert  White,  M.  A., 
published  bv  Dr.  Aiken,  printed  for  B.  and  J.  White,  Fleet-street. 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT.  483 

well  repaid  for  their  exertions,  as  they  can  possibly  be 
by  the  polite,  but  transient  applause,  of  the  visiters  to 
whom  they  usually  devote  their  powers  of  entertaining 
A  little  praise  or  blame,  a  smile  from  a  mother  or  a 
frown,  a  moment's  attention  or  a  look  of  cold  neglect, 
has  the  happy  or  the  fatal  power,  of  repressing  or  of 
exciting  the  energy  of  a  child,  of  directing  his  under- 
standing to  useful  or  pernicious  purposes.  Scarcely  a 
day  passes  in  which  children  do  not  make  some  attempt 
to  reason  about  the  little  events  which  interest  them, 
and,  upon  these  occasions,  a  mother  who  joins  in  con- 
versation with  her  children,  may  instruct  them  in  the  art 
of  reasoning  without  the  parade  of  logical  disquisitions. 
Mr.  Locke  has  done  mankind  an  essential  service,  by 
the  candid  manner  in  which  he  has  spoken  of  some  of 
the  learned  forms  of  argumentation.  A  great  propor- 
tion of  society,  he  observes,  are  unacquainted  with  these 
forms,  and  have  not  heard  the  name  of  Aristotle ;  yet, 
without  the  aid  of  syllogisms,  they  can  reason  suffi- 
ciently well  for  all  the  useful  purposes  of  life,  often 
much  better  than  those  who  have  been  disciplined  in 
the  schools.  It  would  indeed  "be  putting  one  man 
sadly  over  the  head  of  another,"  to  confine  the  reason- 
ing faculty  to  the  disciples  of  Aristotle,  to  any  sect  or 
system,  or  to  any  forms  of  disputation.  Mr.  Locke  has 
very  clearly  shown,  that  syllogisms  do  not  assist  the 
mind  in  the  perception  of  the  agreement  or  disagree- 
ment of  ideas;  but,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  invert  the 
natural  order  in  which  the  thoughts  should  be  placed, 
and  in  which  they  must  be  placed,  before  we  can  draw 
a  just  conclusion.  To  children  who  are  not  familiar- 
ized with  scholastic  terms,  the  sound  of  harsh  words 
and  quaint  language,  unlike  any  thing  that  they  hear  in 
common  conversation,  is  alone  sufficient  to  alarm  their 
imagination  with  some  confused  apprehension  of  diffi- 
culty. In  this  state  of  alarm  they  are  seldom  suffi- 
ciently masters  of  themselves,  either  to  deny  or  to 
acknowledge  an  adept's  major,  minor,  or  conclusion. 
Even  those  who  are  most  expert  in  syllogistical  reason- 
ing, do  not  often  apply  it  to  the  common  affairs  of  life, 
in  which  reasoning  is  just  as  much  wanted  as  it  is  in  the 
abstract  questions  of  philosophy :  and  many  argue  and 
conduct  themselves  with  great  prudence  and  precision, 
who  might,  perhaps,  be  caught  on  the  horns  of  a  dilem- 
ma, or  who  would  infallibly  fall  victims  to  the  crocodile. 
X2 


484  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

Young  people  should  not  be  ignorant,  however,  of 
these  boasted  forms  of  argumentation ;  and  it  may,  as 
they  advance  in  the  knowledge  of  words,  be  a  useful 
exercise  to  resist  the  attacks  of  sophistry.  No  inge- 
nious person  would  wish  to  teach  a  child  to  employ 
them.  As  defensive  weapons,  it  is  necessary  that  young 
people  should  have  the  command  of  logical  terms ;  as 
offensive  weapons,  these  should  never  be  used.  They 
should  know  the  evolutions,  and  be  able  to  perform  the 
exercise  of  a  logician,  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
times,  according  to  the  usage  of  different  nations  ;  but 
they  should  not  attach  any  undue  importance  to  this 
technical  art :  they  should  not  trust  to  it  in  the  day  of 
battle. 

We  have  seen  syllogisms,  crocodiles,  enthymerns, 
sorites,  &c.,  explained  and  tried  upon  a  boy  of  nine  or 
ten  years  old  in  playful  conversation,  so  that  he  became 
accustomed  to  the  terms  without  learning  to  be  pedan- 
tic in  the  abuse  of  them  ;  and  his  quickness  in  reasoning 
was  increased  by  exercise  in  detecting  puerile  sophisms  ; 
such  as  that  of  the  Cretans — Gorgias  and  his  bargain 
about  the  winning  of  his  first  cause.  In  the  following 
sorites*  of  Themistocles — "  My  son  commands  his 
mother;  his  mother  commands  me;  I  command  the 
Athenians  ;  the  Athenians  command  Greece  ;  Greece 
commands  Europe;  Europe  commands  the  whole 
earth  ;  therefore,  my  son  commands  the  whole  earth" — 
the  sophism  depends  upon  the  inaccurate  use  of  the 
commands,  which  is  employed  in  different  senses  in  the 
different  propositions.  This  error  was  without  diffi- 
culty detected  by  S at  ten  years  old ;  and  we  make 

no  doubt  that  any  unprejudiced  boy  of  the  same  age 
would  immediately  point  out  the  fallacy  without  hesita- 
tion ;  but  we  do  not  feel  quite  sure  that  a  boy  exer- 
cised in  logic,  who  had  been  taught  to  admire  and  rever- 
ence the  ancient  figures  of  rhetoric,  would  with  equal 
readiness  detect  the  sophism.  Perhaps  it  may  seem 
surprising,  that  the  same  boy,  who  judged  so  w'ell  of 
this  sorites  of  Themistocles,  should  a  few  months  before 
have  been  easily  entrapped  by  the  following  simple 
dilemma : — 

M .  "  We  should  avoid  what  gives  us  pain." 

5- .  "  Yes,  to  be  sure." 

*  See  Deinology;  where  there  are  many  entertaining  example* 
of  the  figures  of  rhetoric. 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT.  485 

M .  "  Whatever  burns  us,  gives  us  pain." 

S .  '-« Yes,  that  it  does  !" 

M .  "  We  should  then  avoid  whatever  burns  us." 

To  this  conclusion  S- heartily  assented,  for  he  had 

but  just  recovered  from  the  pain  of  a  burn. 

M .  "  Fire  burns  us." 

S .  "  Yes,  I  know  that." 

M .  "  We  should  then  avoid  fire." 

S .  "Yes." 

This  hasty  yes  was  extorted  from  the  boy  by  the 
mode  of  interrogatory ;  but  he  soon  perceived  his  mis- 
take. 

M. .  "  We  should  avoid  fire  1  What,  when  we  are 

very  cold  V* 

5 — r-.  "  Oh,  no :  I  meant  to  say,  that  we  should 
avoid  a  certain  degree  of  fire.  We  should  not  go  too 
near  the  fire.  We  should  not  go  so  near  as  to  burn  our- 
selves." 

Children  who  have  but  little  experience,  frequently 
admit  assertions  to  be  true  in  general,  which  are  only 
true  in  particular  instances  ;  and  this  is  often  attributed 
to  their  want  of  judgment :  it  should  be  attributed  to 
their  want  of  experience.  Experience,  and  nothing 
else,  can  rectify  these  mistakes :  if  we  attempt  to  cor- 
rect them  by  words,  we  shall  merely  teach  our  pupils 
to  argue  about  terms,  not  to  reason.  Some  of  the  ques- 
tions and  themes  which  are  given  to  boys,  may  afford 
us  instances  of  this  injudicious  education.  "  Is  elo- 
quence advantageous  or  hurtful  to  a  state  ?"  What  a 
vast  range  of  ideas,  what  a  variety  of  experience  in  men 
and  things,  should  a  person  possess,  who  is  to  discuss 
this  question  !  Yet  it  is  often  discussed  by  unfortunate 
scholars  of  eleven  or  twelve  years  old.  "  What  is  the 
greatest  good  V*  The  answer  expected  by  a  preceptor 
to  this  question,  obviously,  is  virtue  ;  and  if  a  boy  can, 
in  decent  language,  write  a  page  or  two  about  pleasure 
being  a  transient,  and  virtue  a  permanent  good,  his 
master  flatters  himself  that  he  has  early  taught  him  to 
reason  philosophically.  But  what  ideas  does  the  youth 
annex  to  the  words  pleasure  and  virtue  *  Or  does  he 
annex  any1?  If  he  annex  no  idea  to  the  words,  he  is 
merely  talking  about  sounds. 

All  reasoning  ultimately  refers  to  matters  of  fact :  to 
judge  whether  any  piece  of  reasoning  is  within  the  com- 
prehension of  a  child,  we  must  consider  whether  the 


486  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

facts  to  which  it  refers  are  within  his  experience.  The 
more  we  increase  his  knowledge  of  facts,  the  more  we 
should  exercise  him  in  reasoning  upon  them  ;  but  we 
should  teach  him  to  examine  carefully  before  he  admits 
any  thing  to  be  a  fact,  or  any  assertion  to  be  true.  Ex- 
periment, as  to  substances,  is  the  test  of  truth  ;  and  at- 
tention to  his  own  feelings,  as  to  matters  of  feeling. 
Comparison  of  the  evidence  of  others  with  the  general 
laws  of  nature,  which  he  has  learned  from  his  own  ob- 
servation, is  another  mode  of  obtaining  an  accurate 
knowledge  of  facts.  M.  Condillac,  in  his  Art  of  Rea- 
soning, maintains  that  the  evidence  of  reason  depends 
solely  upon  our  perception  of  the  identity,  or,  to  use  a 
less  formidable  word,  sameness,  of  one  proposition  with 
another.  "  A  demonstration,"  he  says,  "  is  only  a  chain 
of  propositions,  in  which  the  same  ideas,  passing  from 
one  to  the  other,  differ  only  because  they  are  differently 
expressed  ;  the  evidence  of  any  reasoning  consists 
solely  in  its  identity." 

M.  Condillac*  exemplifies  this  doctrine  by  translating 
this  proposition,  *'  The  measure  of  every  triangle  is  the 
product  of  its  height  by  half  its  base,"  into  self-evident, 
or,  as  he  calls  them,  identical  propositions.  The  whole 
ultimately  referring  to  the  ideas  which  we  have  ob- 
tained by  our  senses  of  a  triangle;  of  its  base,  of 
measure,  height,  and  number.  If  a  child  had  not  pre- 
viously acquired  any  one  of  these  ideas,  it  would  be  in 
vain  to  explain  one  term  by  another,  or  to  translate  one 
phrase  or  proposition  into  another ;  they  might  be 
identical,  but  they  would  not  be  self-evident,  proposi- 
tions to  the  pupil ;  and  no  conclusion,  except  what  re- 
lates merely  to  words,  could  be  formed  from  such  rea- 
soning. The  moral  which  we  should  draw  from  Con- 
dillac's  observations  for  Practical  Education  must  be, 
that  clear  ideas  should  first  be  acquired  by  the  exercise 
of  the  senses,  and  that  afterward,  when  we  reason  about 
things  in  words,  we  should  use  few  and  accurate  terms, 
that  we  may  have  as  little  trouble  as  possible  in 
changing  or  translating  one  phrase  or  proposition  into 
another. 

Children,  if  they  are  not  overawed  by  authority,  if 

*  Une  demonstration  est  done  une  suite  de  propositions,  ou  les 
m£mes  id^es,  passant  de  1'une  &  1'autre,  ne  different  que  parce  qu'elles 
sont  6nonces  differemment ;  et  1'evidence  d'un  raisonnement  consiste 
uniquement  dans  1'identite. — See  Art  de  Raisonner,  p.  2. 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT.  487 

they  are  encouraged  in  the  habit  of  observing  their  own 
sensations,  and  if  they  are  taught  precision  in  the  use 
of  the  words  by  which  they  describe  them,  will  probably 
reason  accurately  where  their  own  feelings  are  con- 
cerned. 

In  appreciating  the  testimony  of  others,  and  in  judging 
of  chances  and  probability,  we  must  not  expect  our 
pupils  to  proceed  very  rapidly.  There  is  more  danger 
that  they  should  overrate,  than  that  they  should  under- 
value, the  evidence  of  others ;  because,  as  we  formerly 
stated,  we  take  it  for  granted,  that  they  have  had 
little  experience  of  falsehood.  We  should,  to  preserve 
them  from  credulity,  excite  them  in  all  cases  where  it 
can  be  obtained,  never  to  rest  satisfied  without  the 
strongest  species  of  evidence,  that  of  their  own  senses. 
If  a  child  says,  "  I  am  sure  of  such  a  thing,"  we  should 
immediately  examine  into  his  reasons  for  believing  it. 
"  Mr.  A.  or  Mr.  B.  told  me  so,"  is  not  a  sufficient  cause 
of  belief,  unless  the  child  has  had  long  experience  of  A. 
and  B.'s  truth  and  accuracy;  and,  at  all  events,  the  in- 
dolent habit  of  relying  upon  the  assertions  of  others, 
instead  of  verifying  them,  should  not  be  indulged. 

It  would  be  a  waste  of  time  to  repeat  those  experi- 
ments, of  the  truth  of  which  the  uniform  experience  of 
our  lives  has  convinced  us :  we  run  no  hazard,  for  in- 
stance, in  believing  any  one  who  simply  asserts  that  he 
has  seen  an  apple  fall  from  a  tree  ;  this  assertion  agrees 
with  the  great  natural  law  of  gravity,  or,  in  other  words, 
with  the  uniform  experience  of  mankind  :  but  if  any- 
body told  us  that  he  had  seen  an  apple  hanging  self- 
poised  in  the  air,  we  should  reasonably  suspect  the 
truth  of  his  observation  or  of  his  evidence.  This  is 
the  first  rule  which  we  can  most  readily  teach  our  pu- 
pils in  judging  of  evidence.  We  are  not  speaking  of 
children  from  four  to  six  years  old,  for  every  thing  is 
almost 'equally  extraordinary  to  them  ;  but,  when  chil- 
dren are  about  ten  or  eleven,  they  have  acquired  a  suffi- 
cient variety  of  facts  to  form  comparisons,  and  to  judge 
to  a  certain  degree  of  the  probability  of  any  new  fact 
that  is  related.  In  reading  and  in  conversation  we 
should  now  exercise  them  in  forming  judgments,  where 
we  know  that  they  have  the  means  of  comparison. 
"  Do  you  believe  such  a  thing  to  be  true  ?  and  why  do 
you  believe  it?  Can  you  account  for  such  a  thing  1" 
are  questions  we  should  often  ask  at  this  period  of  their 


488  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

education.  On  hearing  extraordinary  facts,  some  chil- 
dren will  not  be  satisfied  with  vague  assertions  ;  others 
content  themselves  with  saying,  "  It  is  so,  I  read  it  in  a 
book."  We  should  have  little  hopes  of  those  who  swal- 
low every  thing  they  read  in  a  book ;  we  are  always 
pleased  to  see  a  child  hesitate  and  doubt,  and  require 
positive  proof  before  he  believes.  The  taste  for  the 
marvellous  is  strong  in  ignorant  minds ;  the  wish  to 
account  for  every  new  appearance,  characterizes  the 
cultivated  pupil. 

A  lady  told  a  boy  of  nine  years  old  (S )  the  fol- 
lowing story,  which  she  had  just  met  with  in  "  The 
Curiosities  of  Literature."  An  officer,  who  was  con- 
fined in  the  Bastile,  used  ta  amuse  himself  by  playing 
on  the  flute :  one  day  he  observed,  that  a  number  of 
spiders  came  down  from  their  webs,  and  hung  round 
him  as  if  listening  to  his  music  ;  a  number  of  mice  also 
came  from  their  holes,  and  retired  as  soon  as  he  stop- 
ped. The  officer  had  a  great  dislike  to  mice  ;  he  pro- 
cured a  cat  from  the  keeper  of  the  prison,  and  when 
the  mice  were  entranced  by  his  music,  he  let  the  cat 
out  among  them. 

S was  much  displeased  by  this  man's  treacherous 

conduct  towards  the  poor  mice,  and  his  indignation  for 
some  moments  suspended  his  reasoning  faculty;  but, 

when  S had  sufficiently  expressed  his  indignation 

against  the  officer  in  the  affair  of  the  mice,  he  began  to 
question  the  truth  of  the  story  ;  and  he  said  that  he  did 
not  think  it  was  certain,  that  the  mice  and  spiders  came 
to  listen  to  the  music.  "  I  do  not  know  about  the  mice," 
said  he,  "  but  I  think,  perhaps,  when  the  officer  played 
upon  the  flute,  he  set  the  air  in  motion,  and  shook  the 
cobwebs,  so  as  to  disturb  the  spiders."  We  do  not,  nor 
did  the  child  think,  that  this  was  a  satisfactory  account 
of  the  matter ;  but  we  mention  it  as  an  instance  of  the 
love  of  investigation,  which  we  wish  to  encourage. 

The  difficulty  of  judging  concerning  the  truth  of  evi- 
dence increases,  when  we  take  moral  causes  into  the 
account.  If  we  had  any  suspicion  that  a  man,  who  told 
us  that  he  had  seen  an  apple  fall  from  a  tree,  had  him- 
self pulled  the  apple  down  and  stolen  it,  we  should  set 
the  probability  of  his  telling  a  falsehood,  and  his  motive 
for  doing  so,  against  his  evidence  ;  and  though,  accord- 
ing to  the  natural  physical  course  of  things,  there  would 
be  no  improbability  in  his  story,  yet.  there  might  arise 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT.  489 

improbability  from  his  character  for  dishonesty  ;  and 
thus  we  should  feel  ourselves  in  doubt  concerning  the 
fact.  But  if  two  people  agreed  hi  the  same  testimony, 
our  doubt  would  vanish  ;  the  dishonest  man's  doubtful 
evidence  would  be  corroborated,  and  we  should  believe, 
notwithstanding  his  general  character,  in  the  truth  of 
his  assertion  in  this  instance.  We  could  make  the  mat- 
ter infinitely  more  complicated,  but  what  has  been  said 
will  be  sufficient  to  suggest  to  preceptors  the  difficulty 
which  their  young  and  inexperienced  pupils  must  feel, 
in  forming  judgments  of  facts  where  physical  and  moral 
probabilities  are  in  direct  opposition  to  each  other. 

We  wish  that  a  writer  equal  to  such  a  task  would 
write  trials  for  children  as  exercises  for  their  judgment  ; 
beginning  with  the  simplest,  and  proceeding  gradually 
to  the  more  complicated  cases  in  which  moral  reason- 
ings can  be  used.  We  do  not  mean  that  it  would  be 
advisable  to  initiate  young  readers  in  the  technical 
forms  of  law  ;  but  the  general  principles  of  justice,  upon 
which  all  law  is  founded,  might,  we  think,  be  advan- 
tageously exemplified.  Such  trials  would  entertain 
children  extremely.  There  is  a  slight  attempt  at  this 
kind  of  composition,  we  mean  in  a  little  trial  in  Even- 
ings at  Home  ;  and  we  have  seen  children  read  it  with 
great  avidity.  Cyrus's  judgment  about  the  two  coats, 
and  the  ingenious  story  of  the  olive-merchant's  cause, 
rejudged  by  the  sensible  child  in  the  Arabian  Tales,  have 
been  found  highly  interesting  to  a  young  audience. 

We  should  prefer  truth  to  fiction  :  if  we  could  select 
any  instances  from  real  life,  any  trials  suited  to  the 
capacity  of  young  people,  they  would  be  preferable  to 
any  which  the  most  ingenious  writer  could  invent  for 
our  purpose.  A  gentleman  who  has  taken  his  two  sons, 
one  of  them  ten  and  the  other  fifteen  years  old,  to  hear 
trials  at  his  county  assizes,  found  by  the  account  which 
the  boys  gave  of  what  they  had  heard,  that  they  had 
been  interested,  and  that  they  were  capable  of  under- 
standing the  business. 

Allowance  must  be  made  first  for  the  bustle  and  noise 
of  a  public  place,  and  for  the  variety  of  objects  which 
distract  the  attention. 

Much  of  the  readiness  of  forming  judgments  depends 

upon  the  power  of  discarding  and  obliterating  from  our 

mind  all  the  superfluous  circumstances  ;  it  may  be  use- 

ful to  exercise  our  pupils,  by  telling  them  now  and  then 

X 


IUSIFIESIT 

m&*  ^ 


490  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

stories  in  the  confused  manner  in  which  they  are  some- 
times related  by  puzzled  witnesses  :  let  them  reduce 
the  heterogeneous  circumstances  to  order,  make  a  clear 
statement  of  the  case  for  themselves,  and  try  if  they 
can  point  out  the  facts  on  which  the  decision  princi- 
pally rests.  This  is  not  merely  education  for  a  lawyer ; 
the  powers  of  reasoning  and  judgment,  when  we  have 
been  exercised  in  this  manner,  may  be  turned  to  any 
art  or  profession.  We  should,  if  we  were  to  try  the 
judgment  of  children,  observe,  whether  in  unusual  cir- 
cumstances they  can  apply  their  former  principles,  and 
compare  the  new  objects  that  are  placed  before  them 
without  perplexity.  "We  have  sometimes  found,  that 
on  subjects  entirely  new  to  them,  children  who  have 
been  used  to  reason,  can  lay  aside  the  circumstances 
that  are  not  essential,  and  form  a  distinct  judgment  for 
themselves,  independently  of  the  opinion  of  others. 

Last  winter  the  entertaining  life  of  the  celebrated 
miser  Mr.  Elwes  was  read  aloud  in  a  family,  in  which 
there  were  a  number  of  children.  Mr.  Elwes,  once,  as 
he  was  walking  home  on  a  dark  night,  in  London,  ran 
against  a  chair-pole  and  bruised  both  his  shins.  His 
friends  sent  for  a  surgeon.  Elwes  was  alarmed  at  the 
idea  of  expense,  and  he  laid  the  surgeon  the  amount  of 
his  bill,  that  the  leg  which  he  took  under  his  own  pro- 
tection would  get  well  sooner  than  that  which  was  put 
under  the  surgeon's  care  ;  at  the  same  time,  Mr.  Elwes 
promised  to  put  nothing  to  the  leg  of  which  he  took 
charge.  Mr.  Elwes's  favourite  leg  got  well  sooner  than 
that  which  the  surgeon  had  undertaken  to  cure,  and  Mr. 
Elwes  won  his  wager.  In  a  note  upon  this  transaction, 
his  biographer  says,  "  This  wager  would  have  been  a 
bubble  bet  if  it  had  been  brought  before  the  Jockey-club, 
because  Mr.  Elwes,  though  he  promised  to  put  nothing 
to  the  leg  under  his  own  protection,  took  Velno's  vege- 
table sirup  during  the  time  of  its  cure." 

C ;  (a  girl  of  twelve  years  old)  observed  when  this 

anecdote  was  read,  that  "  still  the  wager  was  a  fair 
wager,  because  the  medicine  which  Mr.  Elwes  took,  if  it 
was  of  any  use,  must  have  been  of  use  to  both  legs ; 
therefore  the  surgeon  and  Mr.  Elwes  had  equal  advan- 
tage from  it."  C had  never  heard  of  the  Jockey- 
club,  or  of  bubble  bets  before,  and  she  used  the  word 
medicine,  because  she  forgot  the  name  of  Velno's  vege- 
table sirup. 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT.  491 

We  have  observed,*  that  works  of  criticism  are  unfit  for 
children,  and  teach  them  rather  to  remember  what  others 
say  of  authors,  than  to  judge  of  the  books  themselves 
impartially  :  but,  when  we  object  to  works  of  criticism, 
we  do  not  mean  to  object  to  criticism ;  we  think  it  an 
excellent  exercise  for  the  judgment,  and  we  have  our- 
selves been  so  well  corrected,  and  so  kindly  assisted,  by 
the  observations  of  young  critics,  that  we  cannot  doubt 
their  capacity.  This  book  has  been  read  to  a  jury  of 
young  critics,  who  gave  their  utmost  attention  to  it  for 
about  half  an  hour  at  a  sitting,  and  many  amendments 
have  been  made  from  their  suggestions.  In  the  chapter 
on  Obstinacy,  for  instance,  when  we  were  asserting 
that  children  sometimes  forget  their  old  bad  habits,  and 
do  not  consider  these  as  a  part  of  themselves,  there  was 
this  allusion : — 

"As  the  snake,  when  he  casts  his  skin,  leaves  the 
slough  behind  him,  and  winds  on  his  way  in  new  and 
beautiful  colours." 

The  moment  this  sentence  was  read,  it  was  objected 

to  by  the  audience.  Mr.  objected  to  the  word 

slough,  as  an  ill-sounding,  disagreeable  word,  which 
conveyed  at  first  to  the  eye  the  idea  of  a  wet,  boggy 

place  ;  such  as  the  Slough  of  Despond.  At  last  S , 

who  had  been  pondering  over  the  affair  in  silence,  ex- 
claimed, "  But  I  think  there's  another  fault  in  the  al- 
lusion ;  do  not  snakes  cast  their  skins  every  year  ? 
Then  these  new  and  beautiful  colours,  which  are  the 
good  habits,  must  be  thrown  aside  and  forgotten  the 
next  time  ;  but  that  should  not  be." 

This  criticism  appeared  conclusive  even  to  the  author, 
and  the  sentence  was  immediately  expunged. 

When  young  people  have  acquired  a  command  of  lan- 
guage, we  must  be  careful  lest  their  fluency  and  their 
ready  use  of  synonymous  expressions  should  lessen  the 
accuracy  of  their  reasoning.  Mr.  Home  Tooke  has 
ably  shown  the  connexion  between  the  study  of  lan- 
guage and  the  art  of  reasoning.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
make  our  pupils  profound  grammarians  or  etymologists  ; 
but  attention  to  the  origin,  abbreviations,  and  various 
meanings  of  words,  will  assist  them  not  only  to  speak, 
but  to  think  and  argue,  with  precision.  This  is  not  a 
study  of  abstract  speculation,  but  of  practical,  daily 

*  See  Chapter  on  Books. 


492  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

utility  ;  half  the  disputes,  and  much  of  the  misery  of  the 
world,  originate  and  perpetuate  themselves  by  the  inac- 
curate use  of  words.  One  party  uses  a  word  in  this 
sense,  the  opposite  party  uses  the  same  word  in  another 
sense  ;  all  their  reasonings  appear  absurd  to  each  other; 
and,  instead  of  explaining  them,  they  quarrel.  This  is 
not  the  case  merely  in  philosophical  disputes  between 
authors,  but  it  happens  continually  in  the  busy,  active 
scenes  of  life.  Even  while  we  were  writing  this  pas- 
sage, in  the  newspaper  of  to-day  we  met  with  an  in- 
stance that  is,  sufficiently  striking. 

"The  accusation  against  me,"  says  Sir  Sidney  Smith, 
in  his  excellent  letter  to  Pichegru,  expostulating  upon 
his  unmerited  confinement,  "  brought  forward  by  your 
justice  of  the  peace,  was,  that  I  was  the  enemy  of  the 
republic.  You  know,  general,  that  with  military  men, 
the  word  enemy  has  merely  a  technical  signification, 
without  expressing  the  least  character  of  hatred.  You 
will  readily  admit  this  principle,  the  result  of  which  is, 
that  I  ought  not  to  be  persecuted  for  the  injury  I 
have  been  enabled  to  do  while  I  carried  arms  against 
you." 

Here  the  argument  of  two  generals,  one  of  whom  is 
pleading  for  his  liberty,  if  not  for  his  life,  turns  upon  the 
meaning  and  construction  of  a  single  word.  Accuracy 
of  reasoning  and  some  knowledge  of  language  may,  it 
appears,  be  of  essential  service  in  all  professions. 

It  is  not  only  necessary  to  attend  to  the  exact  mean- 
ing which  is  avowedly  affixed  to  any  terms  used  in  argu- 
ment, but  it  is  also  useful  to  attend  to  the  thoughts  which 
are  often  suggested  to  the  disputants  by  certain  words. 
Thus,  the  words  happiness  and  beauty  suggest,  in  con- 
versation, very  different  ideas  to  different  men  ;  and  in 
arguing  concerning  these,  they  could  never  come  to  a 
conclusion.  Even  persons  who  agree  in  the  same  defi- 
nition of  a  word,  frequently  do  not  sufficiently  attend  to 
the  ideas  which  the  word  suggests ;  to  the  association 
of  thoughts  and  emotions  which  it  excites;  and  con- 
sequently they  cannot  strictly  abide  by  their  own  defi- 
nition, nor  can  they  discover  where  the  error  lies.  We 
have  observed*  that  the  imagination  is  powerfully  af- 
fected by  words  that  suggest  long  trains  of  ideas ;  our 
reasonings  are  influenced  in  the  same  manner,  and  the 

*  See  Chapter  on  Imagination. 


WIT    AND    JUDGMENT.  493 

elliptical  figures  of  speech  are  used  in  reasoning  as  well 
as  in  poetry. 

"  I  would  do  so  and  so,  if  I  were  Alexander." 

"  And  so  would  I,  if  I  were  Parmenio  ;" 
is  a  short  reply,  which  suggests  a  number  of  ideas  and 
a  train  of  reasoning.  To  those  who  cannot  supply  the 
intermediate  ideas,  the  answer  would  not  appear  either 
sublime  or  rational.  Young  people,  when  they  appear  to 
admire  any  compressed  reasoning,  should  be  encouraged 
to  show  that  they  can  supply  the  thoughts  and  reasons 
that  are  not  expressed.  Vivacious  children  will  be  dis- 
gusted, however,  if  they  are  required  to  detail  upon  the 
subject  ;*  all  that  is  necessary  is,  to  be  sure  that  they 
actually  comprehend  what  they  admire. 

Sometimes  a  question  that  appears  simple,  involves 
the  consideration  of  others  which  are  difficult.  When- 
ever a  preceptor  cannot  go  to  the  bottom  of  the  business, 
he  will  do  wisely  to  say  so  at  once  to  his  pupil,  ins-tead  of 
attempting  a  superficial  or  evasive  reply.  For  instance, 
if  a  child  were  to  hear  that  the  Dutch  burn  and  destroy 
quantities  of  spice,  the  produce  of  their  Indian  islands, 
he  would  probably  express  some  surprise,  and  perhaps 
some  indignation.  If  a  preceptor  were  to  say,  "  The 
Dutch  have  a  right  to  do  what  they  please  with  what  is 
their  own,  and  the  spice  is  their  own,"  his  pupil  would 
not  yet  be  satisfied  ;  he  would  probably  say,  "  Yes,  they 
have  a  right  to  do  what  they  please  with  what  is  their 
own  ;  but  why  should  they  destroy  what  is  useful  ?" 
The  preceptor  might  answer,  if  he  chose  to  make  a 
foolish  answer,  "  The  Dutch  follow  their  own  interest  in 
burning  the  spice  ;  they  sell  what  remains  at  a  higher 
price  ;  the  market  would  be  overstocked  if  they  did  not 
burn  some  of  their  spice."  Even  supposing  the  child 
to  understand  the  .terms,  this  would  not  be  a  satisfac- 
tory answer ;  nor  could  a  satisfactory  answer  be  given, 
without  discussing  the  nature  of  commerce  and  the  jus- 
tice of  monopolies.  Where  one  question  in  this  manner 
involves  another,  we  should  postpone  the  discussion,  if 
it  cannot  be  completely  made  ;  the  road  may  be  just 
pointed  out,  and  the  pupil's  curiosity  may  be  excited  to 
future  inquiry.  It  is  even  better  to  be  ignorant  than  to 
have  superficial  knowledge. 

A  philosopher  who  himself  excelled  in  accuracy  of 

*  See  Attention. 
42 


494  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

reasoning,  recommends  the  study  of  mathematics,  to 
improve  the  acuteness  and  precision  of  the  reasoning 
faculty.*  To  study  any  thing  accurately,  will  have  an 
excellent  effect  upon  the  mind  ;  and  we  may  afterward 
direct  the  judgment  to  whatever  purposes  we  please. 
It  has  often  been  remarked,  as  a  reproach  upon  men 
of  science  and  literature,  that  those  who  judge  ex- 
tremely well  of  books  arid  of  abstract  philosophical 
questions,  do  not  show  the  same  judgment  in  the  ac- 
tive business  of  life  :  a  man  undoubtedly  may  be  a  good 
mathematician,  a  good  critic,  an  excellent  writer,  and 
may  yet  not  show,  or,  rather,  not  employ,  much  judg- 
ment in  his  conduct :  his  powers  of  reasoning  cannot  be 
deficient ;  the  habit  of  employing  those  powers  in  con- 
ducting himself,  he  should  have  been  taught  by  early 
education.  Moral  reasoning  and  the  habit  of  acting  in 
consequence  of  the  conviction  of  the  judgment,  we  call 
prudence ;  a  virtue  of  so  much  consequence  to  all  the 
other  virtues ;  a  virtue  of  so  much  consequence  to  our- 
selves and  to  our  friends,  that  it  surely  merits  a  whole 
chapter  to  itself  in  Practical  Education. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

ON  PRUDENCE  AND  ECONOMY. 

VOLTAIRE  says  that  the  King  of  Prussia  always  wrote 
with  one  kind  of  enthusiasm,  and  acted  with  another. 
It  often  happens  that  men  judge  with  one  degree  of  un- 
derstanding, and  conduct  themselves  with  another  ;f 
hence  the  commonplace  remarks  on  the  difference  be- 
tween theory  and  practice ;  hence  the  observation,  that 
it  is  easy  to  be  prudent  for  other  people,  but  extremely 
difficult  to  be  prudent  for  ourselves.  Prudence  is  a  vir- 

*  Locke.     Essay  on  the  Conduct  of  the  Human  Understanding, 
t  "  Here  lies  the  mutton-eating  king, 
Whose  promise  none  relied  on ; 
Who  never  said  a  foolish  thing, 
And  never  did  a  wise  one." 

Epitaph  on  Charles  Second. 


ON  PRUDENCE  AND  ECONOMY.        495 

tue  compounded  of  judgment  and  resolution:  we  do  not 
here  speak  of  that  narrow  species  of  prudence  which  is 
more  properly  called  worldly  wisdom  ;  but  we  mean 
that  enlarged,  comprehensive  wisdom,  which,  after 
taking  a  calm  view  of  the  objects  of  happiness,  steadily 
prefers  the  greatest  portion  of  felicity.  This  is  not  a 
selfish  virtue ;  for,  according  to  our  definition,  benevo- 
lence, as  one  of  the  greatest  sources  of  our  pleasures, 
must  be  included  in  the  truly  prudent  man's  estimate. 
Two  things  are  necessary  to  make  any  person  prudent, 
— the  power  to  judge,  and  the  habit  of  acting  in  conse- 
quence of  his  conviction.  We  have,  in  the  preceding 
chapter,  as  far  as  we  were  able,  suggested  the  best 
methods  of  cultivating  the  powers  of  reasoning  in  our 
pupils ;  we  must  consider  now  how  these  can  be  applied 
immediately  to  their  conduct,  and  associated  with  habits 
of  action. 

Instead  of  deciding  always  for  our  young  pupils,  we 
should  early  accustom  them  to  choose  for  themselves 
about  every  trifle  which  is  interesting  to  childhood  :  if 
they  choosje  wisely,  they  should  enjoy  the  natural  re- 
ward of  their  prudence  ;  and  if  they  decide  rashly,  they 
should  be  suffered  to  feel  the  consequence  of  their  own 
error.  Experience,  it  is  said,  makes  even  fools  wise  ; 
and  the  sooner  we  can  give  experience,  the  sooner  we 
shall  teach  wisdom.  But  we  must  not  substitute  belief 
upon  trust  for  belief  upon  conviction.  When  a  little 
boy  says,  "I  did  not  eat  anymore  custard,  because 
mamma  told  me  that  the  custard  would  make  me  sick," 
he  is  only  obedient,  he  is  not  prudent ;  he  submits  to 
his  mother's  judgment,  he  does  not  use  his  own.  When 
obedience  is  out  of  the  question,  children  sometimes 
follow  the  opinions  of  others  ;  of  this  we  formerly  gave 
an  instance  (see  Toys)  in  the  poor  boy  who  chose  a 
gilt  coach,  because  his  mamma  "  and  everybody  said  it 
was  the  prettiest"  while  he  really  preferred  the  useful 
cart :  we  should  never  prejudice  the'm,  either  by  our 
wisdom  or  our  folly. 

A  sensible  little  boy  of  four  years  old  had  seen  some- 
body telling  fortunes  In  the  grounds  of  coffee  ;  but  when 
he  had  a  cup  of  coffee  given  to  him,  he  drank  it  all,  say- 
ing, "  Coffee  is  better  than  fortune !" 

When  their  attention  is  not  turned  to  divine  what  the 
spectators  think  and  feel,  children  will  have  leisure  to 
consult  their  own  minds,  and  to  compare  their  own  feel- 


496  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

ings.  As  this  has  been  already  spoken  of,*  we  shall 
not  dwell  upon  it ;  we  only  mention  it  as  a  necessary 
precaution  in  teaching  prudence. 

Some  parents  may  perhaps  fear,  that  if  they  were  to 
allow  children  to  choose  upon  every  trifling  occasion 
for  themselves,  they  would  become  wilful  and  trouble- 
some :  this  certainly  will  be  the  effect,  if  we  make  them 
think  that  there  is  a  pleasure  in  the  exercise  of  freewill, 
independent  of  any  good  that  may  be  obtained  by  judi- 
cious choice.  "  Now,  my  dear,  you  shall  have  your 
choice  !  You  shall  choose  for  yourself!  You  shall  have 
your  free  choice !"  are  expressions  that  may  be  pro- 
nounced in  such  a  tone,  and  with  such  an  emphasis,  to 
a  child,  as  immediately  to  excite  a  species  of  triumphant 
ecstasy  from  the  mere  idea  of  having  his  own  free 
choice.  By  a  different  accent  and  emphasis  we  may 
repress  the  ideas  of  triumph,  and  without  intimidating 
the  pupil,  may  turn  his  mind  to  the  difficulties  rather 
than  the  glory  of  being  in  a  situation  to  decide  for  him- 
self. 

We  must  not  be  surprised  at  the  early  imprudence  of 
children;  their  mistakes,  when  they  first  are  allowed  to 
make  a  choice,  are  inevitable  ;  all  their  sensations  are 
new  to  them — consequently  they  cannot  judge  of  what 
they  shall  like  or  dislike.  If  some,  of  Lord  Macartney's 
suite  had,  on  his  return  from  the  late  embassy  to  China, 
brought  home  some  plant  whose  smell  was  perfectly  un- 
known to  Europeans,  would  it  have  been  possible  for  the 
greatest  philosopher  in  England  to  decide,  if  he  had  been 
asked,  whether  he  should  like  the  unknown  perfume  ? 
Children,  for  the  first  five  or  six  years  of  their  lives,  are 
in  the  situation  of  this  philosopher,  relatively  to  external 
objects.  We  should  never  reproachfully  say  to  a  child, 
"  You  asked  to  smell  such  a  thing ;  you  asked  to  see 
such  a  thing ;  and  now  you  have  had  your  wish,  you 
don't  like  them  !"  How  can  the  child  possibly  judge 
of  what  he  shall  like  or  dislike,  before  he  has  tried  ? 
Let  him  try  experiments  upon  his  own  feelings ;  the 
more  accurate  knowledge  he  acquires,  the  sooner  he 
will  be  enabled  to  choose  prudently.  You  may  expedite 
his  progress  by  exciting  him  to  compare  each  new  sen- 
sation with  those  to  which  he  is  already  familiarized ; 
this  will  counteract  that  love  of  novelty  which  is  often 

*  See  Taste  and  Imagination. 


PRUDENCE  AND  ECONOMY.  497 

found  dangerous  to  prudence  ;  if  the  mind  is  employed 
in  comparing,  it  cannot  be  dazzled  by  new  objects. 

Children  often  imagine,  that  what  they  like  for  the 
present  minute  they  shall  continue  to  like  for  ever ;  they 
have  not  learned  from  experiment,  that  the  most  agree- 
able sensations  fatigue,  if  they  are  prolonged  or  fre- 
quently repeated  ;  they  have  not  learned,  that  all  vio- 
lent stimuli  are  followed  by  weariness  or  ennui.  The 
sensible  preceptor  will  not  insist  upon  his  pupil's  know- 
ing these  things  by  inspiration,  nor  will  he  expect  that 
his  assertions  or  prophecies  should  be  implicitly  be- 
lieved ;  he  will  wait  till  the  child  feels,  and  at  that  mo- 
ment he  will  excite  his  pupil  to  observe  his  own  feel- 
ings. "  You  thought  that  you  should  never  be  tired  of 
smelling  that  rose,  or  of  looking  at  that  picture ;  now 
you  perceive  that  you  are  tired  :  remember  this  ;  it  may 
be  of  use  to  you  another  time."  If  this  be  said  in  a 
friendly  manner,  it  will  not  pique  the  child  to  defend  his 
past  choice,  but  it  will  direct  his  future  judgment. 

Young  people  are  often  reproached  for  their  impru- 
dence in  preferring  a  small  present  pleasure  to  a  large 
distant  advantage  :  this  error  also  arises  from  inexpe- 
rience, not  from  want  of  judgment,  or  deficiency  in 
strength  of  mind.  When  that  which  has  been  the  fu- 
ture has,  in  its  turn,  become  present,  children  begin  to 
have  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  time,  and  they  can  then 
form  some  comparisons  between  the  value  of  present 
and  future  pleasure.  This  is  a  very  slow  process  ;  old 
people  calculate  and  depend  upon  the  distant  future 
more  than  the  young,  not  always  from  their  increased 
wisdom  or  prudence,  but  merely  from  their  increased 
experience,  and  consequent  belief  that  the  future  will  in 
time  arrive.  It  is  imprudent  in  old  people  to  depend 
upon  the  future  ;  if  they  were  to  reason  upon  the  chance 
of  their  lives,  they  ought  not  to  be  secure  of  its  arrival ; 
yet  habit  in  this  instance,  as  in  many  others,  is  more 
powerful  than  reason  ;  in  all  the  plans  of  elderly  people, 
there  is  seldom  any  error  from  impatience  as  to  the  fu- 
ture ;  there  often  appear  gross  errors  in  their  security 
as  to  its  arrival.  If  these  opposite  habits  could  be 
mixed  in  the  minds  of  the  old  and  of  the  young,  it  would 
be  for  their  mutual  advantage. 

It  is  not  possible  to  infuse  experience  into  the  mind ; 
our  pupils  must  feel  for  themselves :  but,  by  teaching 
them  to  observe  their  own  feelings,  we  may  abridge 


498  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

their  labour  ;  a  few  lessons  will  teach  a  great  deal,  when 
they  are  properly  applied.  To  teach  children  to  calcu- 
late and  compare  their  present  and  future  pleasures,  we 
may  begin  by  fixing  short  intervals  of  time  for  our  ex- 
periments ;  an  hour,  a  day,  a  week,  perhaps,  are  periods 
of  time  to  which  their  imagination  will  easily  extend  ; 
they  can  measure  and  compare  their  feelings  within 
these  spaces  of  time,  and  we  may  lead  them  to  observe 
their  own  errors  in  not  providing  for  the  future.  "  Now 
Friday  is  come  ;  last  Monday  you  thought  Friday  would 
never  come.  If  you  had  not  cut  away  all  your  pencil 
last  week,  you  would  have  had  some  left  to  draw  with 
to-day.  Another  time  you  will  manage  better." 

We  should  also  lead  them  to  compare  their  ideas  of 
any  given  pleasure  before  and  after  the  period  of  its  ar- 
rival. "  You  thought  last  summer  that  you  should  like 
making  snowballs  in  winter,  better  than  making  hay  in 
summer.  Now  you  have  made  snowballs  to-day  ;  and 
you  remember  what  you  felt  when  you  were  making 
hay  last  summer ;  do  you  like  the  snowball  pleasure  or 
the  hay-making  pleasure,  the  best  ?"  See  Berquin's 
Quatre  Saisons. 

If  our  pupils,  when  they  have  any  choice  to  make, 
prefer  a  small  present  gratification  to  a  great  future 
pleasure,  we  should  not,  at  the  moment  of  their  decis- 
ion, reproach  their  imprudence,  but  we  should  steadily 
make  them  abide  by  their  choice ;  and  when  the  time  ar- 
rives at  which  the  greater  pleasure  might  have  been  en- 
joyed, we  should  remark  the  circumstance,  but  not  with 
a  tone  of  reproach,  for  it  is  their  affair,  not  ours.  "  You 
preferred  having  a  sheet  of  paper  the  moment  you 
wanted  it  last  week,  to  having  a  quire  of  paper  this 
week." — "  Oh,  but,"  says  the  child,  "  I  wanted  a  sheet 
of  paper  very  much  then,  but  I  did  not  consider  how 
soon  this  week  would  come — I  wish  I  had  chosen  the 
quire." — "  Then  remember  what  you  feel  now,  and  you 
will  be  able  to  choose  better  upon  another  occasion." 
We  should  always  refer  to  the  pupil's  own  feelings,  and 
look  forward  to  their  future  advantage.  The  reason 
why  so  few  young  people  attend  to  advice  is,  that  their 
preceptors  do  not  bring  it  actually  home  to  their  feel- 
ings ;  it  is  useless  to  reproach  for  past  imprudence  ;  the 
child  sees  the  error  as  plainly  as  we  do :  all  that  can  be 
done,  is  to  make  it  a  lesson  for  the  future. 

To  a  geometrician,  the  words,  by  proposition,  1st,  stand 


PRUDENCE  AND  ECONOMY.          499 

for  a  whole  demonstration  :  if  he  recollects  that  he  has 
once  gone  over  the  demonstration,  he  is  satisfied  of  its 
truth;  and,  without  verifying  it  again,  he  makes  use  of 
it  in  making  out  the  demonstration  of  a  new  proposition. 
In  moral  reasoning,  we  proceed  in  the  same  manner; 
we  recollect  the  result  of  our  past  experiments,  and  we 
refer  to  this  moral  demonstration  in  solving  a  new  prob- 
lem. In  time,  by  frequent  practice,  this  operation  is 
performed  so  rapidly  by  the  mind  that  we  scarcely  per- 
ceive it,  and  yet  it  guides  our  actions.  A  man,  in 
walking  across  the  room,  keeps  out  of  the  way  of  the 
tables  and  chairs,  without  perceiving  that  he  reasons 
about  the  matter ;  a  sober  man  avoids  hard  drinking, 
because  he  knows  it  to  be  hurtful  to  his  health  ;  but  he 
does  not,  every  time  he  refuses  to  drink,  go  over  the 
whole  train  of  reasoning  which  first  decided  his  deter- 
mination. A  modern  philosopher*  calls  this  rapid  spe- 
cies of  reasoning  "intuitive  analogy;"  applied  to  the 
business  of  life,  the  French  call  it  tact.  Sensible  peo- 
ple have  this  tact  in  higher  perfection  than  others  ;  and 
prudent  people  govern  themselves  by  it  more  regularly 
than  others.  By  the  methods  which  we  have  recom- 
mended, we  hope  it  may  be  successfully  cultivated  in 
early  education. 

Rousseau,  in  expressing  his  contempt  for  those  who 
make  habit  their  only  guide  of  action,  goes,  as  he  is  apt 
to  do  in  the  heat  of  declamation,  into  the  error  opposite 
to  that  which  he  ridicules.  "The  only  habit,"  says  he, 
"  that  I  wish  my  Emilius  to  have,  is  the  habit  of  having 
no  habits."  Emilius  would  have  been  a  strange  being, 
had  he  literally  accomplished  his  preceptor's  wish.  To 
go  up  stairs,  would  have  been  a  most  operose,  and  to-go 
down  stiars,  a  most  tremendous  affair  to  Emilius,  for  he 
was  to  have  no  habits :  between  every  step  of  the  stairs, 
new  deliberations  must  take  place,  and  fresh  decisions 
of  the  judgment  ensue.  In  his  moral  judgments,  Emil- 
ius would  have  had  as  much  useless  labour.  Habit 
surely  is  necessary,  even  to  those  who  make  reason  the 
ultimate  judge*  of  their  affairs.  Reason  is  not  to  be  ap- 
pealed to  upon  every  trivial  occasion,  to  rejudge  the 
same  cause  a  million  of  times.  Must  a  man,  every 
time  he  draws  a  straight  line,  repeat  to  himself,  "a 
right  line  is  that  which  lieth  evenly  between  its  points  ?" 

*  Darwin's  Zoonomia. 


500  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

Must  he  rehearse  the  propositions  of  Euclid,  instead  of 
availing  himself  of  their  practical  use  1 

"  Christian,  canst  thou  raise  a  perpendicular  upon  a 
straight  line  ]"  is  the  apostrophe  with  which  the  cross- 
legged  emperor  of  Barbary,  seated  on  his  throne  of 
rough  deal  boards,  accosts  every  learned  stranger  who 
frequents  his  court.  In  the  course  of  his  reign,  proba- 
bly, his  Barbaric  majesty  may  have  reiterated  the  dem- 
onstration of  this  favourite  proposition,  which  he 
learned  from  a  French  surgeon,  about  five  hundred 
times ;  but  his  majesty's  understanding  is  not  materially 
improved  by  these  recitals ;  his  geometrical  learning  is 
confined,  we  are  told,  to  this  single  proposition. 

It  would  have  been  scarcely  worth  while  to  single  out 
for  combat  this  paradox  of  Rousseau's  concerning  habit, 
if  it  had  not  presented  itself  in  the  formidable  form  of 
an  antithesis.  A  false  maxim,  conveyed  in  an  antithe- 
sis, is  dangerous,  because  it  is  easily  remembered  and 
repeated,  and  it  quickly  passes  current  in  conversation. 

But  to  return  to  our  subject,  of  which  we  have  impru- 
dently lost  sight.  Imprudence  does  not  always  arise 
from  our  neglect  of  our  past  experience,  or  from  our 
forgetting  to  take  the  future  into  our  calculations,  but 
from  false  associations,  or  from  passion.  Objects  often 
appear  different  to  one  man,  from  what  they  do  to  the 
rest  of  the  world  :  this  man  may  reason  well  upon  what 
the  majority  of  reasonable  people  agree  to  call  false  ap- 
pearances ;  he  may  follow  strictly  the  conviction  of  his 
own  understanding,  and  yet  the  world  will  say  that  he 
acts  very  imprudently.  To  the  taste  or  smell  of  those 
who  are  in  a  fever,  objects  not  only  appear,  but  really 
are,  different  from  what  they  appear  to  persons  in  sound 
health :  in  the  same  manner  to  the  imagination,  objects 
have  really  a  different  value  in  moments  of  enthusiasm, 
from  what  they  have  in  our  cooler  hours,  and  we 
scarcely  can  believe  that  our  view  of  objects  will  ever 
vary.  It  is  in  vain  to  oppose  reason  to  false  associa- 
tions :  we  must  endeavour  to  combat  one  set  of  associa- 
tions by  another,  and  to  alter  the  situation,  and  conse- 
quently the  views,*  of  the  mistaken  person.  Suppose, 
for  instance,  that  a  child  had  been  in  a  coach  and  six 
upon  some  pleasant  excursion  (it  is  an  improbable  thing, 
but  we  may  suppose  any  thing) :  suppose  a  child  had 

*  Chapter  on  Imagination. 


PRUDENCE  AND  ECONOMY.          501 

enjoyed,  from  some  accidental  circumstances,  an  extra- 
ordinary degree  of  pleasure  in  a  coach  and  six,  he  might 
afterward  long  to  be  in  a  similar  vehicle,  from  a  mista- 
ken notion  that  it  could  confer  happiness.  Here  we 
should  not  oppose  the  force  of  reasoning  to  a  false  as- 
sociation, but  we  should  counteract  the  former  associa- 
tion. Give  the  child  an  equal  quantity  of  amusement 
when  he  is  not  in  a  coach  and  six,  and  then  he  will  form 
fresh  pleasurable  associations  with  other  objects,  which 
may  balance  his  first  prepossession.  If  you  oppose 
reason  ineffectually  to  passion  or  taste,  you  bring  the 
voice  and  power  of  reason  into  discredit  with  your  pupil.. 
When  you  have  changed  his  view  of  things,  you  may 
then  reason  with  him,  and  show  him  the  cause  of  his 
former  mistake. 

In  the  excellent  fable  of  the  shield  that  was  gold  on 
one  side  and  silver  on  the  other,  the  two  disputants 
never  could  have  agreed  until  they  changed  places. — 
When  you  have,  in  several  instances,  proved  by  experi- 
ment, that  you  judge  more  prudently  than  your  pupil,  he 
will  be  strongly  inclined  to  listen  to  your  counsels,  and 
then  your  experience  will  be  of  real  use  to  him  ;  he  will 
argue  from  it  with  safety  and  satisfaction.  When,  after 
recovering  from  fits  of  passion  or  enthusiasm,  you  have, 
upon  several  occasions,  convinced  him  that  your  admo- 
nitions would  have  prevented  him  from  the  pain  of  re- 
pentance, he  will  recollect  this  when  he  again  feels  the 
first  rise  of  passion  in  his  mind  ;  and  he  may,  in  that 
lucid  moment,  avail  himself  of  your  calm  reason,  and 
thus  avoid  the  excesses  of  extravagant  passions.  That 
unfortunate  French  monarch,*  who  was  liable  to  tem- 
porary fits  of  phrensy,  learned  to  foresee  his  approaching 
malady,  and  often  requested  his  friends  to  disarm  him, 
lest  he  should  injure  any  of  his  attendants. 

In  a  malady  which  precludes  the  use  of  reason,  it  was 
possible  for  this  humane  patient  to  foresee  the  probable 
mischief  he  might  do  to  his  fellow-creatures,  and  to  take 
prudent  measures  against  his  own  violence ;  and  may 
not  we  expect,  that  those  who  are  early  accustomed  to 
attend  to  their  own  feelings,  may  prepare  against  the 
extravagance  of  their  own  passions,  and  avail  them- 
selves of  the  regulating  advice  of  their  temperate 
friends  1 

*  Charles  VI. 


502  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

In  the  education  of  girls,  we  must  teach  them  much 
more  caution  than  is  necessary  to  boys  :  their  prudence 
must  be  more  the  result  of  reasoning  than  of  experi- 
ment ;  they  must  trust  to  the  experience  of  others ;  they 
cannot  always  have  recourse  to  what  ought  to  be ;  they 
must  adapt  themselves  to  what  is.  They  cannot  rectify 
the  material  mistakes  in  their  conduct.*  Timidity,  a 
certain  tardiness  of  decision,  and  reluctance  to  act  in 
public  situations,  are  not  considered  as  defects  in  a 
woman's  character :  her  pausing  prudence  does  not,  to 
a  man  of  discernment,  denote  imbecility;  but  appears 
to  him  the  graceful,  auspicious  characteristic  of  female 
virtue.  There  is  always  more  probability  that  women 
should  endanger  their  own  happiness  by  precipitation 
than  by  forbearance.  Promptitude  of  choice  is  sel- 
dom expected  from  the  female  sex ;  they  should  avail 
themselves  of  the  leisure  that  is  permitted  to  them  for 
reflection.  "  Begin  nothing  of  which  you  have  not 
well  considered  the  end,"  was  the  piece  of  advice  for 
which  the  Eastern  sultanf  paid  a  purse  of  gold,  the 
price  set  upon  it  by  a  sage.  The  monarch  did  not  re- 
pent of  his  purchase.  This  maxim  should  be  engraved 
upon  the  memory  of  our  female  pupils,  by  the  repeated 
lessons  of  education.  "We  should,  even  in  trifles,  avoid 
every  circumstance  which  can  tend  to  make  girls  ven- 
turesome ;  which  can  encourage  them  to  trust  their 
good  fortune,  instead  of  relying  on  their  own  prudence. 
Marmontel's  tale,  entitled  "  Heureusement"  is  a  witty, 
but  surely  not  a  moral  tale.  Girls  should  be  discouraged 
from  hazarding  opinions  in  general  conversation ;  but 
among  their  friends,  they  should  be  excited  to  reason 
with  accuracy  and  with  temper.J  It  is  really  a  part  of 
a  woman's  prudence  to  have  command  of  temper ;  if  she 
has  it  not,  her  wit  and  sense  will  not  have  their  just 
value  in  domestic  life.  Calphurnia,  a  Roman  lady,  used 
to  plead  her  own  causes  before  the  senate,  and  we  are 
informed,  that  she  became  "  so  troublesome  and  confi- 
dent, that  the  judges  decreed  that  thenceforward  no 
woman  should  be  suffered  to  plead."  Did  not  this  lady 
make  an  imprudent  use  of  her  talents  1 

In  the  choice  of  friends,  and  on  all  matters  of  taste, 

*  "  No  penance  can  absolve  their  guilty  fame, 

Nor  tears,  that  wash  out  sin,  can  wash  out  shame." 
f  See  Persian  Tales.  t  See  Chapter  on  Temper. 


PRUDENCE  AND  ECONOMY.  503 

young  women  should  be  excited  to  reason  about  their 
own  feelings.  "  There  is  no  reasoning  about  taste,"  is 
a  pernicious  maxim  :  if  there  were  more  reasoning, 
there  would  be  less  disputation  upon  this  subject.  If 
women  questioned  their  own  minds,  or  allowed  their 
friends  to  question  them,  concerning  the  reasons  of  their 
"  preferences  and  aversions,"  there  would  not,  probably, 
be  so  many  love-matches,  and  so  few  love-marriages. 
It  is  in  vain  to  expect  that  young  women  should  begin 
to  reason  miraculously,  at  the  very  moment  that  reason 
is  wanted  in  the  guidance  of  their  conduct.  We  should 
also  observe,  that  women  are  called  upon  for  the  exer- 
tion of  their  prudence,  at  an  age  when  young  men  are 
scarcely  supposed  to  possess  that  virtue ;  therefore, 
women  should  be  more  early  and  more  carefully  edu- 
cated for  the  purpose.  The  important  decisions  of 
woman's  life  are  often  made  before  she  is  twenty :  a 
man  does  not  come  upon  the  theatre  of  public  life, 
where  most  of  his  prudence  is  shown,  till  he, is  much 
older. 

Economy  is,  in  women,  an  essential  domestic  virtue. 
Some  women  have  a  foolish  love  of  expensive  baubles  ; 
a  taste  which  a  very  little  care,  probably,  in  their  early 
education,  might  have  prevented.  We  are  told  that 
when  a  collection  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  was 
made  for  the  celebrated  Cuzzona,  to  save  her  from  ab- 
solute want,  she  immediately  laid  out  two  hundred 
pounds  of  the  money  in  the  purchase  of  a  shell  cap, 
which  was  then  in  fashion.*  Prudent  mothers  will 
avoid  showing  any  admiration  of  pretty  trinkets  before 
their  young  daughters ;  and  they  will  oppose  the  ideas  of 
utility  and  durability  to  the  mere  caprice  of  fashion,  which 
creates  a  taste  for  beauty,  as  it  were,  by  proclamation. 
"  Such  a  thing  is  pretty,  but  it  is  of  no  use.  Such  a 
thing  is  pretty,  but  it  will  soon  wear  out" — a  mother 
may  say ;  and  she  should  prove  the  truth  of  her  asser- 
tions to  her  pupils. 

Economy  is  usually  confined  to  the  management  of 
money,  but  it  may  be  shown  on  many  other  occasions  : 
economy  may  be  exercised  in  taking  care  of  whatever 
belongs  to  us ;  children  should  have  the  care  of  their 
own  clothes,  and  if  they  are  negligent  of  what  is  in 
their  charge,  this  negligence  should  not  be  repaired  by 

*  Mrs  Piozzi's  English  Synonomy,  vol.  i.  p.  359. 


504  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

servants  or  friends ;  they  should  feel  the  real  natural 
consequences  of  their  own  neglect,  but  no  other  punish- 
m,ent  should  be  inflicted;  and  they  should  be  left  to 
make  their  own  reflections  upon  their  errors  and 'mis- 
fortunes, undisturbed  by  the  reproaches  of  their  friends, 
or  by  the  prosing  moral  of  a  governess  or  preceptor. 
We  recommend,  for  we  must  descend  to  these  trifles, 
that  girls  should  be  supplied  with  an  independent  stock 
of  all  the  little  things  which  are  in  daily  use;  house- 
wives and  pocketbooks,  well  stored  with  useful  imple- 
ments;  and  there  should  be  no  lending*  and  borrow- 
ing among  children.  It  will  be  but  just  to  provide 
our  pupils  with  convenient  places  for  the  preserva- 
tion and  arrangement  of  their  little  goods.  Order  is 
necessary  to  economy ;  and  we  cannot  more  certainly 
create  a  taste  for  order,  than  by  showing  early  its  ad- 
vantages in  practice  as  well  as  in  theory.  The  aversion 
to  old  things  should,  if  possible,  be  prevented  in  chil- 
dren :  we  should  not  express  contempt  for  old  things, 
but  we  should  treat  them  with  increased  reverence,  and 
exult  in  their  having  arrived  under  our  protection  to 
such  a  creditable  age.  "  I  have  had  such  a  hat  so  long, 
therefore  it  does  not  signify  what  becomes  of  it !"  is  the 
speech  of  a  promising  little  spendthrift.  "  I  have  taken 
care  of  my  hat,  it  has  lasted  so  long  ;  and  I  hope  I  shall 
make  it  last  longer,"  is  the  exultation  of  a  young  econ- 
omist, in  which  his  prudent  friends  should  sympathize. 

"  Waste  not,  want  not,"  is  an  excellent  motto  in  an 
English  nobleman's  kitchen. f  The  most  opulent  parents 
ought  not  to  be  ashamed  to  adopt  it  in  the  economic 
education  of  their  children  :  early  habits,  of  care,  Snd  an 
early  aversion  and  contempt  for  the  selfish  spirit  of 
wasteful  extravagance,  may  preserve  the  fortunes,  and, 
what  is  of  far  more  importance,  the  integrity  and  peace 
of  mind,  of  noble  families. 

We  have  said  that  economy  cannot  be  exercised  with- 
out children's  having  the  management  of  money.  While 
our  pupils  are  young,  if  they  are  educated  at  home,  they 
cannot  have  much  real  occasion  for  money  ;  all  the  ne- 
cessaries of  life  are  provided  for  them  ;  and  if  they  have 
money  to  spend,  it  must  be  probably  laid  out  on  super- 
fluities. This  is  a  bad  beginning.  Money  should  be 
represented  to  our  pupils  as  what  it  really  is,  the  con- 

*  See  Toys.  f  Lord  Scarsdale's.    Keddleston. 


PRUDKNCE    AND    ECONOMY.  50* 

ventional  sign -of  the  value  of  commodities  :  before  chil 
dren  are  acquainted  with  the  real  and  comparative  valin 
of  any  of  these  commodities,  it  is  surely  imprudent  tc 
trust  them  with  money.  As  to  the  idea  that  children 
may  be  charitable  and  generous  in  the  disposal  of  money, 
we  have  expressed  our  sentiments  fully  upon  this  sub- 
ject already.*  We  are,  however,  sensible,  that  when 
children  are  sent  to  any  school,  it  is  advisable  to  supply 
them  with  pocket-money  enough  to  put  them  upon  an 
equal  footing  with  their  companions;  otherwise,  we 
might  run  the  hazard  of  inducing  worse  faults  than  ex- 
travagance— meanness,  or  envy. 

Young  people  who  are  educated  at  home  should,  as 
much  as  possible,  be  educated  to  take  a  family  interest 
in  all  the  domestic  expenses.  Parental  reserve  in  money 
matters  is  extremely  impolitic  ;  as  Mr.  Locke  judiciously 
observes,  that  a  father  who  wraps  his  affairs  up  in  mys- 
tery,  and  who  "  views  his  son  with  jealous  eyes,"  as  a 
person  who  is  to  begin  to  live  when  he  dies,  must  make 
him  an  enemy  by  treating  him  as  such.  A  frank  sim- 
plicity and  cordial  dependance  upon  the  integrity  and 
upon  the  sympathy  of  their  children,  will  ensure  to  pa- 
rents their  disinterested  friendship.  Ignorance  is  al- 
ways more  to  be  dreaded  than  knowledge.  Young  peo- 
ple who  are  absolutely  ignorant  of  affairs,  who  have  no 
idea  of  the  relative  expense  of  different  modes  of  living, 
and  of  the  various  wants  of  a  family,  are  apt  to  be  ex- 
tremely unreasonable  in  the  imaginary  disposal  of  their 
parent's  fortune ;  they  confine  their  view  merely  to  their 
own  expenses.  "  I  only  spend  such  a  sum,"  they  say, 
"  and  surely  that  is  nothing  to  my  father's  income." 
They  consider  only  the  absolute  amount  of  what  they 
spend ;  they  cannot  compare  it  with  the  number  of  other 
expenses  which  are  necessary  for  the  rest  of  the  family : 
they  do  not  know  these,  therefore  they  cannot  perceive 
the  proportion  which  it  is  reasonable  that  their  expen- 
diture should  bear  to  the  whole.  Mrs.  D'Arblay,  in  one 
of  her  excellent  novels,  has  given  a  striking  picture  of 
the  ignorance  in  which  young  women  sometimes  leave 
their  father's  house,  and  begin  to  manage  in  life  for 
themselves,  without  knowing  any  thing  of  the  powers 
of  money.  Camilla's  imprudence  must  chiefly  be  as- 
cribed to  her  ignorance.  Young  women  should  be  ac- 

*  See  Chapter  on  Sympathy  and  Sensibility. 
43 


506  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

customed  to  keep  the  family  accounts,  and  their  arith- 
metic should  not  be  merely  a  speculative  science  ;  they 
should  learn  the  price  of  all  necessaries,  and  of  all  lux- 
uries ;  they  should  learn  what  luxuries  are  suited  to  their 
fortune  and  rank,  what  degree  of  expense  in  dress  is 
essential  to  a  regularly  neat  appearance,  and  what  must 
be  the  increased  expense  and  temptations  of  fashion  in 
different  situations;  they  should  not  be  suffered  to  im- 
agine that  they  can  resist  these  temptations  more  than 
others,  if  they  get  into  company  above  their  rank ;  nor 
should  they  have  any  indistinct  idea,  that  by  some  won- 
derful economical  operations  they  can  make  a  given 
sum  of  money  go  farther  than  others  can  do.  The  steadi- 
ness of  calculation  will  prevent  all  these  vain  notions ; 
and  young  women,  when  they  see  in  stubborn  figures 
what  must  be  the  consequence  of  getting  into  situations 
where  they  must  be  tempted  to  exceed  their  means, 
will  probably  begin  by  avoiding,  instead  of  braving,  the 
danger. 

Most  parents  think  that  their  sons  are  more  disposed 
to  extravagance  than  their  daughters  ;  the  sons  are 
usually  exposed  to  greater  temptations.  Young  men 
excite  each  other  to  expense,  and  to  a  certain  careless- 
ness of  economy,  which  assumes  the  name  of  spirit, 
while  it  often  forfeits  all  pretensions  to  justice.  A 
prudent  father  will  never,  from  any  false  notions  of 
forming  his  son  early  to  good  company,  introduce  him 
to  associates  whose  only  merit  is  their  rank  or  their 
fortune.  Such  companions  will  lead  a  weak  young  man 
into  every  species  of  extravagance,  and  then  desert  and 
ridicule  him  in  the  hour  of  distress.  If  a  young  man 
has  a  taste  for  literature  and  for  rational  society,  his 
economy  will  be  secured,  simply  because  his  pleasures 
will  not  be  expensive  ;  nor  will  they  be  dependant  upon 
the  caprice  of  fashionable  associates.  The  intermediate 
state  between  that  of  a  schoolboy  and  a  man,  is  the 
dangerous  period  in  which  taste  for  expense  is  often 
acquired  before  the  means  of  gratifying  it  are  obtained. 
Boys  listen  with  anxiety  to  the  conversation  of  those 
who  are  a  few  years  older  than  themselves.  From  this 
conversation  they  gather  information  respecting  the 
ways  of  the  world,  which,  though  often  erroneous,  they 
tenaciously  believe  to  be  accurate ;  it  is  in  vain  that 
their  older  friends  may  assure  them  that  such  and  such 
frivolous  expenses  are  not  necessary  to  the  wellbeing 


PRUDENCE  AND  ECONOMY.          507 

of  a  man  in  society  ;  they  adhere  to  the  opinion  of  the 
younger  counsel ;  they  conclude  that  every  thing  has 
changed  since  their  parents  were  young,  that  they  must 
not  govern  themselves  by  antiquated  notions,  but  by  the 
scheme  of  economy  which  happens  to  be  the  fashion  of 
the  day.  During  this  boyish  state,  parents  should  be 
particularly  attentive  to  the  company  which  their  sons 
keep;  and  they  should  frequently,  in  conversation  with 
sensible,  but  not  with  morose  or  oldfashioned  people, 
lead  to  the  subject  of  economy,  and  openly  discuss  and 
settle  the  most  essential  points.  At  the  same  time,  a 
father  should  not  intimidate  his  son  with  the  idea  that 
nothing  but  rigid  economy  can  win  his  parental  favour ; 
his  parental  favour  should  not  be  a  mercenary  object ; 
he  should  rather  show  his  son  that  he  is  aware  of  the 
great  temptations  to  which  a  young  man  is  exposed  in 
going  first  into  the  world  :'  he  should  show  him,  both 
that  he  is  disposed  to  place  confidence  in  him,  and  that 
he  yet  knows  the  fallibility  of  youthful  prudence.  If  he 
expect  from  his  son  unerring  prudence,  he  expects  too 
much  ;  and  he  will,  perhaps,  create  an  apprehension  of 
his  displeasure,  which  may  chill  and  repress  all  in- 
genuous confidence.  In  all  his  childish,  and  in  all  his 
youthful  distresses,  a  son  should  be  habitually  inclined 
to  turn  to  his  father  as  to  his  most  indulgent  friend. 
"  Apply  to  me  if  ever  you  get  into  any  difficulties,  and 
you  will  always  find  me  your  most  indulgent  friend," 
were  the  words  of  a  father  to  a  child  of  twelve  years 
old,  pronounced  with  such  encouraging  benevolence, 
that  they  were  never  forgotten  by  the  person  to  whom 
they  were  addressed. 

Before  a  young  man  goes  into  the  world,  it  will  be 
a  great  advantage  to  him  to  have  some  share  in  the 
management  of  his  father's  affairs ;  by  laying  out  money 
for  another  person,  he  will  acquire  habits  of  care,  which 
will  be  useful  to  him  afterward  in  his  own  affairs.  A 
father  who  is  building,  or  improving  grounds,  who  is 
carrying  on  works  of  any  sort,  can  easily  allot  some 
portion  of  the  business  to  his  son,  as  an  exercise  for 
his  judgment  and  prudence.  He  should  hear  and  see 
the  estimates  of  workmen,  and  he  should,  as  soon  as 
he  has  collected  the  necessary  facts,  form  estimates 
of  his  own  before  he  hears  the  calculation  of  others ; 
this  power  of  estimating  will  be  of  great  advantage  to 
gentlemen  :  it  will  circumscribe  their  wishes,  and  it 
Y2 


508  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

will  protect  them  against  the  low  frauds  of  designing 
workmen. 

It  may  seem  trivial,  but  we  cannot  forbear  to  advise 
young  people  to  read  the  newspapers  of  the  day  regu- 
larly: they  will  keep  up  by  these  means  with  the  cur- 
rent of  affairs,  and  they  will  exercise  their  judgment 
upon  interesting  business  and  large  objects.  The  sooner 
boys  acquire  the  sort  of  knowledge  necessary  for  the 
conversation  of  sensible  men,  the  better ;  they  will  be 
the  less  exposed  to  feel  false  shame.  False  shame,  the 
constant  attendant  upon  ignorance,  often  leads  young 
men  into  imprudent  expenses ;  when,  upon  any  occa- 
sion, they  do  not  know  by  any  certain  calculation  to 
what  any  expense  may  amount,  they  are  ashamed  to 
inquire  minutely.  From  another  sort  of  weakness,  they 
are  ashamed  to  resist  the  example  or  importunity  of 
numbers ;  against  this  weakness,  the  strong  desire  of 
preserving  the  good  opinion  of  estimable  friends,  is  the 
best  preservative.  The  taste  for  the  esteem  of  supe- 
rior characters,  cures  the  mind  of  fondness  for  vulgar 
applause. 

We  have,  in  the  very  first  chapter  of  this  book, 
spoken  of  the  danger  of  the  passion  for  gaming ;  and 
the  precautions  that  we  have  recommended  in  early 
education  will,  it  is  hoped,  prevent  the  disorder  from 
appearing  in  our  pupils  as  they  grow  up.  Occupations 
for  the  understanding,  and  objects  for  the  affections, 
will  preclude  all  desire  for  the  violent  stimulus  of  the 
gaming-table.  It  may  be  said,  that  many  men  of  supe- 
rior abilities,  and  of  generous,  social  tempers,  become 
gamesters.  They  do  so  because  they  have  exhausted 
other  pleasures,  and  they  have  been  accustomed  to 
strong  excitements.  Such  excitements  do  not  be- 
come necessary  to  happiness  till  they  have  been  made 
habitual. 

There  was  an  excellent  Essay  on  Projects  published 
some  years  ago  by  an  anonymous  writer,  which  we 
think  would  make  a  great  impression  upon  any  young 
persons  of  good  sense.  We  do  not  wish  to  repress  the 
generous,  enterprising  ardour  of  youth,  or  to  confine  the 
ideas  to  the  narrow  circle  of  which  self  must  be  the 
centre.  Calculation  will  show  what  can  be  done,  and 
how  it  can  be  done  ;  and  thus  the  individual,  without 
injury  to  himself,  may,  if  he  wish  it,  speculate  exten- 
sively for  the  good  of  his  fellow-creatures. 


PRUDENCE  AND  ECONOMY  509 

It  is  scarcely  possible  that  the  mean  passion  of  avarice 
should  exist  in  the  mind  of  any  young  person  who  has 
been  tolerably  well  educated  ;  but  too  much  pains  can- 
not be  taken  to  preserve  that  domestic  felicity  which 
arises  from  entire  confidence  and  satisfaction  among 
the  individuals  of  a  family  with  .regard  to  property. 
Exactness  in  accounts  and  in  business  relative  to  prop- 
erty, far  from  being  unnecessary  among  friends  and 
relations,  is,  we  think,  peculiarly  agreeable,  and  essen- 
tial to  the  continuance  of  frank  intimacy.  We  should, 
while  our  pupils  are  young,  teach  them  a  love  for  ex- 
actness about  property  ;  a  respect  for  the  rights  of 
others,  rather  than  a  tenacious  anxiety  about  their  own. 
When  young  people  are  of  a  proper  age  to  manage 
money  and  property  of  their  own,  let  them  know  pre- 
cisely what  they  can  annually  spend  ;  in  whatever  form 
they  receive  an  income,  let  that  income  be  certain :  if 
presents  of  pocket-money  or  of  dress  are  from  time  to 
time  made  to  them,  this  creates  expectation  and  uncer- 
tainty in  their  minds.  All  persons  who  have  a  fluctu- 
ating revenue  are  disposed  to  be  imprudent  and  extrav- 
agant. It  is  remarkable  that  the  West-Indian  planters, 
whose  property  is  a  kind  of  lottery,  are  extravagantly 
disposed  to  speculation ;  in  the  hopes  of  a  favourable 
season,  they  live  from  year  to  year  in  unbounded  pro- 
fusion. It  is  curious  to  observe,  that  the  propensity  to 
extravagance  exists  in  those  who  enjoy  the  greatest 
affluence,  and  in  those  who  have  felt  the  greatest  dis- 
tress. Those  who  have  little  to  lose  are  reckless  about 
that  little  ;  and  any  uncertainty  as  to  the  tenure  of 
property,  or  as  to  the  rewards  of  industry,  immediately 
operates,  not  only  to  depress  activity,  but  to  destroy 
prudence.  "  Prudence,"  says  Mr.  Edwards,  "  is  a  term 
that  has  no  place  in  the  negro  vocabulary  ;  instead  of 
trusting  to  what  are  called  the  ground  provisions,  which 
are  safe  from  the  hurricanes,  the  negroes,  in  the  culti- 
vation of  their  own  lands,  trust  more  to  plantain-groves, 
corn,  and  other  vegetables  that  are  liable  to  be  destroyed 
by  storms.  When  they  earn  a  little  money,  they  im- 
mediately gratify  their  palate  with  salted  meats  and 
other  provisions,  which  are  to  them  delicacies.  The 
idea  of  accumulating,  and  of  being  economic  in  order  to 
accumulate,  is  unknown  to  these  poor  slaves,  who  hold 
their  lands  by  the  most  uncertain  of  all  tenures."*  We 

*  See  Edwards's  History  of  the  West  Indies. 


510  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

are  told  that  the  provision  ground,  the  creation  of  the 
negro's  industry,  and  the  hope  of  his  life,  is  sold  by 
public  auction  to  pay  his  master's  debts.  Is  it  wonder- 
ful that  the  term  prudence  should  be  unknown  in  the 
negro  vocabulary "? 

The  very  poorest  class  of  people  in  London,  who  feel 
despair,  and  who  merely  live  to  bear  the  evil  of  the 
day,  are,  it  is  said,  very  little  disposed  to  be  prudent. 
In  a  late  publication,  Mr.  Colquhoun's  "  Treatise  on  the 
Police  of  the  Metropolis,"  he  tells  us,  that  the  "  chief 
consumption  of  oysters,  crabs,  lobsters,  pickled  salmon, 
&c.,  when  first  in  season,  and  when  the  prices  arehigh, 
is  by  the  lowest  classes  of  the  people.  The  middle 
ranks,  and  those  immediately  under  them,  abstain  gen- 
erally from  such  indulgences  until  the  prices  are  mod- 
erate."* 

Perhaps  it  may  be  thought  that  the  consumption  of 
oysters,  crabs,  and  pickled  salmon,  in  London,  or  the 
management  of  the  negro's  provision  ground  in  Jamaica, 
has  little  to  do  with  a  practical  essay  upon  economy 
and  prudence  ;  but  we  hope  that  we  may  be  permitted 
to  use  these  farfetched  illustrations,  to  show  that  the 
same  causes  act  upon  the  mind  independently  of  cli- 
mate :  they  are  mentioned  here  to  show  that  the  little 
revenue  of  young  people  ought  to  be  fixed  and  certain. 

When  we  recommend  economy  and  prudence  to  our 
pupils,  we  must,  at  the  same  time,  keep  their  hearts 
open  to  the  pleasures  of  generosity ;  economy  and 
prudence  will  put  it  in  the  power  of  the  generous  to 
give. 

"  The  worth  of  any  thing 
Is  as  much  money  as  'twill  bring," 

will  never  be  the  venal  maxim  of  those  who  understand 
the  nature  of  philosophic  prudence.  The  worth  of 
money  is  to  be  estimated  by  the  number  of  real  pleas- 
ures which  it  can  procure  :  there  are  many  which  are  not 
to  be  bought  by  gold  ;f  these  will  never  lose  their  pre- 
eminent value  with  persons  who  have  been  educated 
both  to  reason  and  to  feel. 

*  See  a  note  in  page  32  of  the  Treatise  on  the  Police  of  the  Me- 
tropolis. 

f  "  Turn  from  the  glittering  bribe  your  scornful  eye, 
Nor  sell  for  gold  what  gold  can  never  buy." 

Johnson's  London. 


SUMMARY.  511 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

SUMMARY. 

"  THE  general  principle,"  that  we  should  associate 
pleasure  with  whatever  we  wish  that  our  pupils  should 
pursue,  and  pain  with  whatever  we  wish  that  they 
should  avoid,  forms,  our  readers  will  perceive,  the  basis 
of  our  plan  of  education.  This  maxim,  applied  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  understanding  or  of  the  affections, 
will,  we  apprehend,  be  equally  successful ;  virtues,  as 
well  as  abilities,  or  what  is  popularly  called  genius,  we 
believe  to  be  the  result  of  education,  not  the  gift  of  na- 
ture. A  fond  mother  will  tremble  at  the  idea,  that  so 
much  depends  upon  her  own  care  in  the  early  education 
of  her  children  ;  but,  even  though  she  may  be  inexpe- 
rienced in  the  art,  she  may  be  persuaded  that  patience 
and  perseverance  will  ensure  her  success :  even  from 
her  timidity  we  may  prophesy  favourably  ;  for,  in  educa- 
tion, to  know  the  danger,  is  often  to  avoid  it.  The  first 
steps  require  rather  caution  and  gentle  kindness,  than 
any  difficult  or  laborious  exertions  :  the  female  sex  are, 
from  their  situation,  their  manners,  and  talents,  pecu- 
liarly suited  to  the  superintendence  of  the  early  years 
of  childhood.  We  have,  therefore  in  the  first  chapters 
of  the  preceding  work,  endeavoured  to  adapt  our  re- 
marks principally  to  female  readers,  and  we  shall  think 
ourselves  happy  if  any  anxious  mother  feels  their  prac- 
tical utility. 

In  the  chapters  on  Toys,  Tasks,  and  Attention,  we 
have  attempted  to  show  how  the  instruction  and  amuse- 
ments of  children  may  be  so  managed  as  to  coincide 
with  each  other.  Play,  we  have  observed,  is  only  a 
change  of  occupation  ;  and  toys,  to  be  permanently 
agreeable  to  children,  must  afford  them  continual  em- 
ployment. We  have  declared  war  against  tasks,  or 
rather  against  the  train  of  melancholy  privations  and 
constraints  which,  associated  with  this  word,  usually 
render  it  odious  to  the  ears  of  the  disgusted  scholar, 
By  kind  patience,  and  well-timed,  distinct,  and  above 


512  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

all,  by  short  lessons,  a  young  child  may  be  initiated  in 
the  mysteries  of  learning,  and  in  the  first  principles  of 
knowledge,  without  fatigue,  or  punishment,  or  tears. 
No  matter  how  little  be  learned  in  a  given  time,  pro- 
vided the  pupil  be  not  disgusted  ;  provided  the  wish  to 
improve  be  excited,  and  the  habits  of  attention  be  ac- 
quired. Attention  we  consider  as  the  faculty  of  the 
mind  which  is  essential  to  the  cultivation  of  all  its  other 
powers. 

It  is  essential  to  success  in  what  are  called  accom- 
plishments, or  talents,  as  well  as  to  our  progress  in  the 
laborious  arts  or  abstract  sciences.  Believing  so  much 
to  depend  upon  this  faculty  or  habit,  we  have  taken  par- 
ticular pains  to  explain  the  practical  methods  by  which 
it  may  be  improved.  The  general  maxims,  that  the  at- 
tention of  young  people  should  at  first  be  exercised  but 
for  very  short  periods  ;  that  they  should  never  be  urged 
to  the  point  of  fatigue  ;  that  pleasure,  especially  the 
great  pleasure  of  success,  should  be  associated  with  the 
exertions  of  the  pupil ;  are  applicable  to  children  of  all 
tempers.  The  care  which  has  been  recommended,  in 
the  use  of  words,  to  convey  uniformly  distinct  ideas, 
will,  it  is  hoped,  be  found  advantageous.  We  have, 
without  entering  into  the  speculative  question  concern- 
ing the  original  differences  of  temper  and  genius,  offered 
such  observations  as  we  thought  might  be  useful  in  cul- 
tivating the  attention  of  vivacious  and  indolent  children; 
whether  their  idleness  or  indolence  proceed  from  na- 
ture, or  from  mistaken  modes  of  instruction,  we  have 
been  anxious  to  point  out  means  of  curing  their  defects ; 
and,  from  our  successful  experience  with  pupils  appa- 
rently of  opposite  dispositions,  we  have  ventured  to 
assert  with  some  confidence,  that  no  parent  should  de- 
spair of  correcting  a  child's  defects :  that  no  preceptor 
should  despair  of  producing  in  his  pupil  the  species  of 
abilities  which  his  education  steadily  tends  to  form. 
These  are  encouraging  hopes,  but  notflatteringpromises. 
Having  just  opened  these  bright  views  to  parents,  we  have 
paused  to  warn  them  that  all  their  expectations,  all  their 
cares,  will  be  in  vain,  unless  they  have  sufficient  pru- 
dence and  strength  of  mind  to  follow  a  certain  mode  of 
conduct  with  respect  to  servants  and  with  respect  to  com- 
mon acquaintance.  More  failures  in  private  education 
have  been  occasioned  by  the  interference  of  servants  and 
acquaintance,  than  from  any  other  cause.  It  is  impossible, 


SUMMARY.          -  513 

we  repeat  it  in  the  strongest  terms,  it  is  impossible  that 
parents  can  be  successful  in  the  education  of  their  chil- 
dren at  home,  unless  they  have  steadiness  enough  to 
resist  all  interference  from  visiters  and  acquaintance, 
who  from  thoughtless  kindness,  or  a  busy  desire  to  ad- 
minister advice,  are  apt  to  counteract  the  views  of  a 
preceptor ;  and  who  often,  in  a  few  minutes,  undo  the 
work  of  years.  When  our  pupils  have  formed  their 
habits,  and  have  reason  and  experience  sufficient  to 
guide  them,  let  them  be  left  as  free  as  air ;  let  them 
choose  their  friends  and  acquaintance  ;  let  them  see  the 
greatest  variety  of  characters,  and  hear  the  greatest 
variety  of  conversation  and  opinions :  but  while  they 
are  children,  while  they  are  destitute  of  the  means  to 
judge,  their  parents  or  preceptors  must  supply  their 
deficient  reason ;  and  authority,  without  violence,  should 
direct  them  to  their  happiness.  They  must  see,  that 
all  who  are  concerned  in  their  education,  agree  in  the 
means  of  governing  them  ;  in  all  their  commands  and 
prohibitions,  in  the  distribution  of  praise  and  blame,  of 
reward  and  punishment,  there  must  be  unanimity. 
Where  there  does  not  exist  this  unanimity  in  families  ; 
where  parents  have  not  sufficient  firmness  to  prevent 
the  interference  of  acquaintance,  and  sufficient  prudence 
to  keep  children  from  all  private  communication  with  ser- 
vants, we  earnestly  advise  that  the  children  be  sent  to 
some  public  seminary  of  education.  We  have  taken 
some  pains  to  detail  the  methods  by  which  all  hurtful 
communications  between  children  and  servants,  in  a 
well-regulated  family,  may  be  avoided,  and  we  have  as- 
serted, from  the  experience  of  above  twenty  years, 
that  these  methods  have  been  found  not  only  practicable, 
but  easy. 

In  the  chapters  on  Obedience,  Temper,  and  Truth, 
the  general  principle,  that  pleasure  should  excite  to  ex- 
ertion and  virtue,  and  that  pain  should  be  connected 
with  whatever  we  wish  our  pupils  to  avoid,  is  applied 
to  practice  with  a  minuteness  of  detail  which  we  knew 
not  how  to  avoid.  Obedience  we  have  considered  as  a 
relative,  rather  than  as  a  positive,  virtue  :  before  chil- 
dren are  able  to  conduct  themselves,  their  obedience 
must  be  rendered  habitual :  obedience  alters  its  nature 
as  the  pupil  becomes  more  and  more  rational ;  and  the 
only  method  to  secure  the  obedience,  the  willing,  en- 
lightened obedience,  of  rational  beings,  is  to  convince 
Y3 


514  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

them,  by  experience,  that  it  tends  to  their  happiness. 
Truth  depends  upon  example  more  than  precept ;  and 
we  have  endeavoured  to  impress  it  on  the  minds  of  all 
who  are  concerned  in  education,  that  the  first  thing 
necessary  to  teach  their  pupils  to  love  truth,  is  in  their 
whole  conduct  to  respect  it  themselves.  We  have  rep- 
robated the  artifices  sometimes  used  by  preceptors 
towards  their  pupils  ;  we  have  shown  that  all  confidence 
is  destroyed  by  these  deceptions.  May  they  never  more 
be  attempted !  May  parents  unite  in  honest  detestation 
of  these  practices  !  Children  are  not  fools,  and  they  are 
not  to  be  governed  like  fools.  Parents  who  adhere  to 
the  firm  principle  of  truth,  may  be  certain  of  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  their  children.  Children  who  never 
see  the  example  of  falsehood,  will  grow  up  with  a  sim- 
plicity of  character,  with  an  habitual  love  of  truth,  that 
must  surprise  preceptors  who  have  seen  the  propensity 
to  deceit  which  early  appears  in  children  who  have  had 
the  misfortune  to  live  with  servants,  or  with  persons 
who  have  the  habits  of  meanness  and  cunning.  We 
have  advised  that  children,  before  their  habits  are 
formed,  should  never  be  exposed  to  temptations  to  de- 
ceive ;  that  no  questions  should  be  asked  them  which 
hazard  their  young  integrity  ;  that  as  they  grow  older, 
they  should  gradually  be  trusted  ;  arttl  that  they  should 
be  placed  in  situations  where  they  may  feel  the  advan- 
tages both  of  speaking  truth,  and  of  obtaining  a  charac- 
ter for  integrity.  The  perception  of  the  utility  of  this 
virtue  to  the  individual  and  to  society,  will  confirm  the 
habitual  reverence  in  which  our  pupils  have  been  taught 
to  hold  it.  As  young  people  become  reasonable,  the 
nature  of  their  habits  and  of  their  education  should  be 
explained  to  them  ;  and  their  virtues,  from  being  virtues 
of  custom,  should  be  rendered  virtues  of  choice  and 
reason.  It  is  easier  to  confirm  good  habits  by  the  con- 
viction of  the  understanding,  than  to  induce  habits  in 
consequence  of  that  conviction.  This  principle  we 
have  pursued  in  the  chapter  on  Rewards  and  Punish- 
ments ;  we  have  not  considered  punishment  as  ven- 
geance or  retaliation,  but  as  pain  inflicted  with  the  reason- 
able hope  of  procuring  some  future  advantage  to  the  delin- 
quent or  to  society.  The  smallest  possible  quantity  of 
pain  that  can  effect  this  purpose,  we  suppose,  must,  with 
all  just  and  humane  persons,  be  the  measure  of  punish- 
ment. This  notion  of  punishment,  both  for  the  sake 


SUMMARY.  515 

of  the  preceptor  and  pupil,  should  be  clearly  explained 
as  early  as  it  can  be  made  intelligible.  As  to  rewards, 
we  do  not  wish  that  they  should  be  bribes ;  they  should 
stimulate,  without  weakening  the  mind.  The  conse- 
quences which  naturally  follow  every  species  of  good 
tonduct,  are  the  proper  and  best  rewards  that  we  can 
devise ;  children  whose  understandings  are  cultivated 
and  whose  tempers  are  not  spoiled,  will  be  easily  made 
happy  without  the  petty  bribes  which  are  administered 
daily  to  ill-educated,  ignorant,  over-stimulated,  and,  con- 
sequently, wretched  and  ill-humoured  children.  Far 
from  making  childhood  a  state  of  continual  penance, 
restraint,  and  misery,  we  wish  that  it  should  be  made  a 
state  of  uniform  happiness  ;  that  parents  and  preceptors 
should  treat  their  pupils  with  as  much  equality  and  kind- 
ness as  the  improving  reason  of  children  justifies.  The 
views  of  children  should  be  extended  to  their  future  ad- 
vantage,* and  they  should  consider  childhood  as  a  part 
of  their  existence,  not  as  a  certain  number  of  years 
which  must  be  passed  over  before  they  can  enjoy  any 
of  the  pleasures  of  life,  before  they  can  enjoy  any  of 
the  privileges  of  grown-up  people.  Preceptors  should 
not  accustom  their  pupils  to  what  they  call  indulgence, 
but  should  give  them  the  utmost  degree  of  present  pleas- 
ure which  is  consistent  with  their  future  advantage. 
Would  it  not  be  folly  and  cruelty  to  give  present  pleas- 
ure at  the  expense  of  a  much  larger  portion  of  future 
pain  ?  When  children  acquire  experience  and  reason, 
they  rejudge  the  conduct  of  those  who  have  educated 
them  ;  and  their  confidence  and  their  gratitude  will  be 
in  exact  proportion  to  the  wisdom  and  justice  with  which 
they  have  been  governed. 

It  was  necessary  to  explain  at  large  these  ideas  of  re- 
wards and  punishments,  that  we  might  clearly  see  our 
way  in  the  progress  of  education.  After  having  deter- 
mined that  our  object  is  to  obtain  for  our  pupils  the 
greatest  possible  portion  of  felicity ;  after  having  ob- 
served that  no  happiness  can  be  enjoyed  in  society  with- 
out the  social  virtues,  without  the  useful  and  the  agree- 
able qualities  ;  our  view  naturally  turns  to  the  means  of 
forming  these  virtues,  of  ensuring  these  essential  quali- 
ties. On  our  sympathy  with  our  fellow-creatures  de- 
pend many  of  our  social  virtues ;  from  our  ambition  to 

*  Emilius. 


516  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

excel  our  competitors,  arise  many  of  our  most  useful 
and  agreeable  actions.  We  have  considered  these  prin- 
ciples of  action  as  they  depend  on  each  other,  and  as 
they  are  afterward  separated.  Sympathy  and  sensibil- 
ity, uninformed  by  reason,  cannot  be  proper  guides  to 
action.  We  have  endeavoured  to  show  how  sympathy 
may  be  improved  into  virtue.  Children  should  not  see 
the  deformed  expression  of  the  malevolent  passions  in 
the  countenances  of  those  who  live  with  them  :  before 
the  habits  are  formed,  before  sympathy  has  any  rule  to 
guide  itself,  it  is  necessarily  determined  by  example. 
Benevolence  and  affectionate  kindness  from  parents  to 
children,  first  inspire  the  pleasing  emotions  of  loVe  and 
gratitude.  Sympathy  is  not  able  to  contend  with  pas- 
sion or  appetite  :  we  should  therefore  avoid  placing 
children  in  painful  competition  with  one  another.  We 
love  those  from  whom  we  receive  pleasure.  To  make 
children  fond  of  each  other,  we  must  make  them  the 
cause  of  pleasure  to  each  other ;  we  must  place  them 
in  situations  where  no  passion  or  appetite  crosses  their 
natural  sympathy.  We  have  spoken  of  the  difference 
between  transient,  convivial  sympathy,  and  that  higher 
species  of  sympathy  which,  connected  with  esteem, 
constitutes  friendship.  We  have  exhorted  parents  not 
to  exhaust  imprudently  the  sensibility  of  their  children  ; 
not  to  lavish  caresses  upon  their  infancy,  and  cruelly  to 
withdraw  their  kindness  when  their  children  have 
learned  to  expect  the  daily  stimulus  of  affection.  The 
idea  of  exercising  sensibility  we  have  endeavoured  to 
explain,  and  to  show  that  if  we  require  premature  grati- 
tude and  generosity  from  young  people,  we  shall  only 
teach  them  affectation  and  hypocrisy.  We  have  slightly 
touched  on  the  dangers  of  excessive  female  sensibility, 
and  have  suggested  that  useful,  active  employments,  and 
the  cultivation  of  the  reasoning  faculty,  render  sym- 
pathy and  sensibility  more  respectable,  and  not  less 
graceful. 

In  treating  of  vanity,  pride,  and  ambition,  we  have 
been  more  indulgent  to  vanity  than  our  proud  readers  will 
approve.  We  hope,  however,  not  to  be  misunderstood  ; 
we  hope  that  we  shall  not  appear  to  be  admirers  of  that 
mean  and  ridiculous  foible,  which  is  anxiously  concealed 
by  all  who  have  any  desire  to  obtain  esteem.  We  can- 
not, however,  avoid  thinking  it  is  a  contradiction  to  in- 
spire young  people  with  a  wish  to  excel,  and  at  the  same 


SUMMARY.  517 

time  to  insist  upon  their  repressing  all  expressions  of 
satisfaction  if  they  succeed.  The  desire  to  obtain  the 
good  opinion  of  others,  is  a  strong  motive  to  exertion  : 
this  desire  cannot  be  discriminative  in  children  before 
they  have  any  knowledge  of  the  comparative  value  of 
different  qualities,  and  before  they  can  estimate  the  con- 
sequent value  of  the  applause  of  different  individuals. 
We  have  endeavoured  to  show  how,  from  appealing  at 
first  to  the  opinions  of  others,  children  may  be  led  to 
form  judgments  of  their  own  actions,  and  to  appeal  to 
their  own  minds  for  approbation.  The  sense  of  duty 
and  independent  self-complacency,  may  gradually  be 
substituted  in  the  place  of  weak,  ignorant  vanity.  There 
is  not  much  danger  that  young  people  whose  under- 
standings are  improved,  and  who  mix  gradually  with 
society,  should  not  be  able  to  repress  those  offensive 
expressions  of  vanity  or  pride  which  are  disagreeable 
to  the  feelings  of  the  "  impartial  spectators."  We 
should  rather  let  the  vanity  of  children  find  its  own 
level,  than  attempt  any  artificial  adjustments  ;  they  will 
learn  propriety  of  manners  from  observation  and  expe- 
rience ;  we  should  have  patience  with  IJieir  early,  un- 
civilized presumption,  lest  we,  by  premature  restraints, 
check  the  energy  of  the  mind,  and  induce  the  cold,  fee- 
ble vice  of  hypocrisy.  In  their  own  family,  among  the 
friends  whom  they  ought  to  love  and  esteem,  let  chil- 
dren, with  simple,  unreserved  vivacity,  express  the  good 
opinion  they  have  of  themselves.  It  is  infinitely  better 
that  they  should  be  allowed  this  necessary  expansion 
of  self-complacency  in  the  company  of  their  superiors, 
than  that  it  should  be  repressed  by  the  cold  hand  of  au- 
thority, and  afterward  be  displayed  in  the  company  of 
inferiors  and  sycophants.  We  have  endeavoured  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  proper  and  improper  use  of  praise 
as  a  motive  in  education  :  we  have  considered  it  a  stim- 
ulus which,  like  all  other  excitements,  is  serviceable  or 
pernicious,  according  to  the  degree  in  which  it  is  used, 
and  the  circumstances  in  which  it  is  applied. 

While  we  have  thus  been  examining  the  general 
means  of  educating  the  heart  and  the  understanding,  we 
have  avoided  entering  minutely  into  the  technical  meth- 
ods of  obtaining  certain  parts  of  knowledge.  It  was 
essential,  in  the  first  place,  to  show  how  the  desire  of 
knowledge  was  to  be  excited ;  what  acquirements  are 
most  desirable,  and  how  they  are  to  be  most  easily  ob- 
44 


518  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

tained,  are  the  next  considerations.  In  the  chapter  on 
Books — Classical  Literature  and  Grammar — Arithmetic 
and  Geometry — Geography  and  Astronomy — Mechan- 
ics and  Chymistry — we  have  attempted  to  show  how  a 
taste  for  literature  may  early  be  infused  into  the  minds 
of  children,  and  how  the  rudiments  of  science,  and  some 
general  principles  of  knowledge,  may  be  acquired,  with- 
out disgusting  the  pupil,  or  fatiguing  him  by  unceasing 
application.  We  have,  in  speaking  of  the  choice  of 
books  for  children,  suggested  the  general  principles  by 
which  a  selection  may  be  safely  made  ;  and  by  mkiute, 
but  we  hope  not  invidious  criticism,  we  have  illustrated 
our  principles  so  as  to  make  them  practically  useful. 

The  examination  of  M.  Oondillac's  Cours  d'Etude  was 
meant  to  illustrate  our  own  sentiments,  more  than  to 
attack  a  particular  system.  Far  from  intending  to  de- 
preciate this  author,  we  think  most  highly  of  his  abili- 
ties ;  but  we  thought  it  necessary  to  point  out  some 
practical  errors  in  his  mode  of  instruction.  Without  ex- 
amples from  real  life,  we  should  have  wandered,  as 
many  others  of  far  superior  abilities  have  already  wan- 
dered, in  the  shadowy  land  of  theory. 

In  our  chapters  on  Grammar,  Arithmetic,  Mechanics, 
Chymistry,  &c.,  all  that  we  have  attempted  has  been  to 
recall  to  preceptors  the  difficulties  which  they  once  ex- 
perienced, and  to  trace  those  early  footsteps  which  time 
insensibly  obliterates.  How  few  possess,  like  Faruknaz 
in  the  Persian  tale,  the  happy  art  of  transfusing  their 
own  souls  into  the  bosoms  of  others ! 

We  shall  not  pity  the  reader  whom  we  have  dragged 
through  Garretson's  Exercises,  if  we  can  save  one  trem- 
bling little  pilgrim  from  that  "  slough  of  despond."  We 
hope  that  the  patient,  quiet  mode,  of  teaching  classical 
literature,  which  we  have  found  to  succeed  in  a  few  in- 
stances, may  be  found  equally  successful  in  others  ;  we 
are  not  conscious  of  having  exaggerated,  and  we  sin- 
cerely wish  that  some  intelligent,  benevolent  parents, 
may  verify  our  experiments  upon  their  own  children. 

The  great  difficulty  which  has  been  found  in  attempts 
to  instruct  children  in  science,  has,  we  apprehend,  arisen 
from  the  theoretic  manner  in  which  preceptors  have 
proceeded.  The  knowledge  that  cannot  be  immediately 
applied  to  use,  has  no  interest  for  children,  has  no  hold 
upon  their  memories;  they  may  learn  the  principles  of 
mechanics,  or  geometry,  or  chymistry;  but  if  they  have 


SUMMARY.  519 

no  means  of  applying  their  knowledge,  it  is  quickly  for- 
gotten, "and  nothing  but  the  disgust  connected  with  the 
recollection  of  useless  labour  remains  in  the  pupil's 
mind.  It  has  been  our  object  in  treating  of  these  sub- 
jects, to  show  how  they  may  be  made  interesting  to 
young  people  ;  and  for  this  purpose  we  should  point  out 
to  them,  in  the  daily,  active  business  of  life,  the  practi- 
cal use  of  scientific  knowledge.  Their  senses  should 
be  exercised  in  experiments,  and  these  experiments 
should  be  simple,  distinct,  and  applicable  to  some  object 
in  which  our  pupils  are  immediately  interested.  We 
are  not  solicitous  about  the  quantity  of  knowledge  that 
is  obtained  at  any  given  age,  but  we  are  extremely  anx- 
ious that  the  desire  to  learn  should  continually  increase, 
and  that  whatever  is  taught  should  be  taught  with  that 
perspicuity  which  improves  the  general  understanding. 
If  the  first  principles  of  science  are  once  clearly  under- 
stood, there  is  no  danger  that  the  pupil  should  not,  at  any 
subsequent  period  of  his  life,  improve  his  practical  skill, 
and  increase  his  knowledge  to  whatever  degree  he 
thinks  proper. 

We  have  hitherto  proceeded  without  discussing  the 
comparative  advantages  of  public  or  private  education. 
Whether  children  are  to  be  educated  at  home  or  to  be 
sent  to  public  seminaries,  the  same  course  of  education, 
during  the  first  years  of  their  lives,  should  be  pursued  ; 
and  the  preparatory  care  of  parents  is  essential  to  the 
success  of  the  public  preceptor.  We  have  admitted  the 
necessity  of  public  schools,  and,  in  the  present  state  of 
society,  we  acknowledge  that  many  parents  have  it  not 
in  their  power  properly  to  superintend  the  private  edu- 
cation of  a  family.  We  have  earnestly  advised  parents 
not  to  attempt  private  education  without  first  calcu- 
lating the  difficulties  of  the  undertaking;  we  have 
pointed  out  that,  by  co-operating  with  the  public  in- 
structer,  parents  may  assist  in  the  formation  of  their 
children's  characters,  without  undertaking  the  sole  man- 
agement of  their  classical  instruction.  A  private  edu- 
cation, upon  a  calm  survey  of  the  advantages  of  both 
systems,  we  prefer,  because  more  is  in  the  power  of  the 
private  than  of  the  public  instructer.  One  uniform 
course  of  experience  may  be  preserved,  and  no  exam- 
ples but  those  which  we  wish  to  have  followed,  need  be 
seen  by  those  children  who  are  brought  up  at  home. 
When  we  give  our  opinion  in  favour  of  private  educa- 


520  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

tion,  we  hope  that  all  we  have  said  on  servants  and  on 
acquaintance  will  be  full  in  the  reader's  recollection. 
No  private  education,  we  repeat  it,  can  succeed  without 
perfect  unanimity,  consistency,  and  steadiness,  among 
all  the  individuals  in  the  family. 

We  have  recommended  to  parents  the  highest  liber- 
ality as -the  highest  prudence,  in  rewarding  the  care  of 
enlightened  preceptors.  Ye  great  and  opulent  parents, 
condescend  to  make  your  children  happy :  provide  for 
yourselves  the  cordial  of  domestic  affection  against 
"  that  sickness  of  long  life — old  age." 

In  what  we  have  said  of  governesses,  masters,  and 
the  value  of  female  accomplishments,  we  have  con- 
sidered not  only  what  is  the  fashion  of  to-day,  but 
rather  what  is  likely  to  be  the  fashion  of  ten  or  twenty 
years  hence.  Mothers  will  look  back,  and  observe  how 
much  the  system  of  female  education  has  altered  within 
their  own  memory ;  and  they  will  see,  with  "  the  pro- 
phetic eye  of  taste,"  what  may  probably  be  the  fashion 
of  another  spring — another  race.*  We  have  endeav- 
oured to  substitute  the  words  domestic  happiness  instead 
of  the  present  terms,  "  success  in  the  world — fortunate 
establishments,"  &c.  This  will  lead,  perhaps,  at  first, 
to  some  confusion  in  the  minds  of  those  who  have  been 
long  used  to  the  old  terms  ;  but  the  new  vocabulary  has 
its  advantages;  the  young  and  unprejudiced  will,  per- 
haps, perceive  them,  and  maternal  tenderness  will  calcu- 
late with  more  precision,  but  not  with  less  eagerness, 
the  chances  of  happiness  according  to  the  new  and  old 
tables  of  interest. 

Sectary-metaphysicians,  if  any  of  this  description 
should  ever  deign  to  open  a  book  that  has  a  practical 
title,  will,  we  fear,  be  disappointed  in  our  chapters  on 
Memory — Imagination  and  Judgment.  They  will  not 
find  us  the  partisans  of  any  system,  and  they  will  prob- 
ably close  the  volume  with  supercilious  contempt.  We 
endeavour  to  console  ourselves  by  the  hope,  that  men 
of  sense  and  candour  will  be  more  indulgent,  and  will 
view  with  more  complacency  an  attempt  to  collect  from 
all  metaphysical  writers,  those  observations  which  can 
be  immediately  of  practical  use  in  education.  Without 
any  pompous  pretensions,  we  have  given  a  sketch  of 
what  we  have  been  able  to  understand  and  ascertain  of 

'  *  "  Another  spring,  another  race  supplies." — POPE'S  Homer. 


SUMMARY.  521 

the  history  of  the  mind.  On  some  subjects,  the  wisest  of 
our  readers  will  at  least  give  us  credit  for  knowing  that 
we  are  ignorant. 

We  do  not  set  that  high  value  upon  Memory,  which 
some  preceptors  are  inclined  to  do.  From  all  that  we 
have  observed,  we  believe  that  few  people  are  naturally 
deficient  in  this  faculty ;  though  in  many  it  may  have 
been  so  injudiciously  cultivated  as  to  induce  the  spec- 
tators to  conclude,  that  there  was  some  original  defect 
in  the  retentive  power.  The  recollective  power  is  less 
cultivated  than  it  ought  to  be,  by  the  usual  modes  of 
education ;  and  this  is  one  reason  why  so  few  pupils 
rise  above  mediocrity.  They  lay  up  treasures  for 
moths  to  corrupt ;  they  acquire  a  quantity  of  knowl- 
edge, they  learn  a  multitude  of  words  by  rote,  and  they 
cannot  produce  a  single  fact,  or  a  single  idea,  in  the 
moment  when  it  is  wanted  :  they  collect,  but  they  can- 
not combine.  We  have  suggested  the  means  of  culti- 
vating the  inventive  faculty  at  the  same  time  that  we 
store  the  memory ;  we  have  shown,  that  on  the  order 
in  which  ideas  are  presented  to  the  mind,  depends  the 
order  in  which  they  will  recur  to  the  memory  ;  and  we 
have  given  examples  from  the  histories  of  great  men 
and  little  children,  of  the  reciprocal  assistance  which 
the  memory  and  the  inventive  powers  afford  each  other. 

In  speaking  of  Taste,  it  has  been  our  wish  to  avoid 
prejudice  and  affectation.  We  have  advised  that  chil- 
dren should  early  be  informed  that  the  principles  of 
taste  depend  upon  casual,  arbitrary,  variable  associa- 
tions. This  will  prevent  our  pupils  from  falling  into 
the  vulgar  error  of  being  amazed  and  scandalized  at  the 
tastes  of  other  times  and  other  nations.  The  beauties 
of  nature  and  the  productions  of  art,  which  are  found  to 
be  most  generally  pleasing,  we  should  associate  with 
pleasure  in  the  mind :  but  we  ought  not  to  expect  that 
children  should  admire  those  works  of  imagination 
which  suggest,  instead  of  expressing,  ideas.  Until 
children  have  acquired  the  language,  until  they  have 
all  the  necessary  trains  of  ideas,  many  of  the  finest 
strokes  of  genius  in  oratory,  poetry,  and  painting,  must 
to  them  be  absolutely  unintelligible. 

In  a  moral  point  of  view,  we  have  treated  of  the  false 
associations  which  have  early  influence  upon  the  ima- 
gination, and  produce  the  furious  passions  and  miserable 
vices.  The  false  associations  which  first  inspire  the 


522  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

young  and  innocent  mind  with  the  love  of  wealth,  of 
power,  or  what  is  falsely  called  pleasure,  are  pointed 
out ;  and  some  practical  hints  are  offered  to  parents, 
which  it  is  hoped  may  tend  to  preserve  their  children 
from  these  moral  insanities. 

We  do  not  think  that  persons  who  are  much  used  to 
children,  will  quarrel  with  us  for  what  we  have  said  of 
early  prodigies  of  wit.  People  who  merely  talk  to 
children  for  the  amusement  of  the  moment,  may  admire 
their  "  lively  nonsense,"  and  will  probably  think  the 
simplicity  of  the  mind  that  we  prefer,  downright  stu- 
pidity. The  habit  of  reasoning  is  seldom  learned  by 
children  who  are  much  taken  notice  of  for  their 
sprightly  repartees  ;  but  we  have  observed  that  children, 
after  they  have  learned  to  reason,  as  they  grow  up  and 
become  acquainted  with  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  world,  are  by  no  means  deficient  in  talents  for  con- 
versation, and  in  that  species  of  wit  which  depends 
upon  the  perception  of  analogy  between  ideas,  rather 
than  a  play  upon  words.  At  all  events,  we  would  rather 
that  our  pupils  should  be  without  the  brilliancy  of  wit, 
than  the  solid  and  essential  power  of  judgment. 

To  cultivate  the  judgment  of  children,  we  must  begin 
by  teaching  them  accurately  to  examine  and  compare 
such  external  objects  as  are  immediately  obvious  to 
their  senses  ;  when  they  begin  to  argue,  we  must  be 
careful  to  make  them  explain  their  terms  and  abide  by 
them.  In  books  and  conversation,  they  must  avoid  all 
bad  reasoning,  nor  should  they  ever  be  encouraged  in 
the  quibbling  habit  of  arguing  for  victory. 

Prudence  we  consider  as  compounded  of  judgment 
and  resolution.  When  we  teach  children  to  reflect  upon 
and  compare  their  own  feelings,  when  we  frequently 
give  them  their  choice  in  things  that  are  interesting  to 
them,  we  educate  them  to  be  prudent.  We  cannot 
teach  this  virtue  until  children  have  had  some  expe- 
rience ;  as  far  as  their  experience  goes,  their  prudence 
may  be  exercised.  Tho«e  who  reflect  upon  their  own 
feelings,  and  find  out  exactly  what  it  is  that  makes  them 
happy,  are  taught  wisdom  by  a  very  few  distinct  les- 
sons. Even  fools,  it  is  said,  grow  wise  by  experience, 
but  it  is  not  until  they  grow  old  under  her  rigid  dis- 
cipline. 

Economy  is  usually  understood  to  mean  prudence  in 
the  management  of  money  :  we  have  used  this  word  in 


SUMMARY.  523 

a  more  enlarged  sense.  Children,  we  have  observed, 
may  be  economic  of  any  thing  that  is  trusted  to  their 
charge  ;  until  they  have  some  use  for  money,  they  need 
not  be  troubled  or  tempted  with  it :  if  all  the  necessa- 
ries and  conveniences  of  life  are  provided  for  them, 
they  must  spend  whatever  is  given  to  them  as  pocket, 
money,  in  superfluities.  This  habituates  them  early  to 
extravagance.  We  do  not  apprehend  that  young  people 
should  be  intrusted  with  money,  till  they  have  been 
some  time  used  to  manage  the  money  business  of 
others.  They  may  be  taught  to  keep  the  accounts  of  a 
family,  from  which  they  will  learn  the  price  and  value 
of  different  commodities.  All  this,  our  readers  will 
perceive,  is  nothing  more  than  the  application  of  the 
different  reasoning  powers  to  different  objects. 

We  have  thus  slightly  given  a  summary  of  the  chap- 
ters in  the  preceding  work,  to  recall  the  whole  in  a  con- 
nected view  to  the  mind;  a  few  simple  principles  run 
through  the  different  parts  ;  all  the  purposes  of  practical 
education  tend  to  one  distinct  object  ;  to  render  our 
pupils  good  and  wise,  that  they  may  enjoy  the  greatest 
possible  share  of  happiness  at  present  and  in  future. 

Parental  care  and  anxiety,  the  hours  devoted  to  the 
instruction  of  a  family,  will  not  be  thrown  away ;  if 
parents  have  the  patience  to  wait  for  their  reward,  that 
reward  will  far  surpass  their  most  sanguine  expecta- 
tions :  they  will  find  in  their  children  agreeable  com- 
panions, sincere  and  affectionate  friends.  WThether 
they  live  in  retirement  or  in  the  busy  world,  they  will 
feel  their  interest  in  life  increase,  their  pleasures  multi- 
plied by  sympathy  with  their  beloved  pupils  ;  they  will 
have  a  happy  home.  How  much  is  comprised  in  that 
single  expression !  The  gratitude  of  their  pupils  will 
continually  recall  to  their  minds  the  delightful  reflec- 
tion, that  the  felicity  of  their  whole  family  is  their 
work  ;  that  the  virtues  and  talents  of  their  children  are 
the  necessary  consequences  of  good  education. 


524  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 


NOTES, 


CONTAINING    CONVERSATIONS    AND   ANECDOTES  OF   CHIL- 
DREN. 

SEVERAL  years  ago  a  mother,*  who  had  a  large  family 
to  educate,  and  who  had  turned  her  attention  with  much 
solicitude  to  the  subject  of  education,  resolved  to  write 
aotes  from  day  to  day  of  all  the  trifling  things  which 
mark  the  progress  of  the  mind  in  childhood.  She  was 
of  opinion,  that  the  art  of  education  should  be  con- 
sidered as  an  experimental  science,  and  that  many  au- 
thors of  great  abilities  had  mistaken  their  road  by  fol- 
lowing theory  instead  of  practice.  The  title  of  "  Prac- 
tical Education"  was  chosen  by  this  lady,  and  prefixed  to 
a  little  book  for  children,  which  she  began,  but  did  not 
live  to  finish.  The  few  notes  which  remain  of  her 
writing  are  preserved,  not  merely  out  of  respect  to  her 
memory,  but  because  it  is  thought  that  they  may  be  use- 
ful. Her  plan  of  keeping  a  register  of  the  remarks  of 
children,  has  at  intervals  been  pursued  in  her  family  ;  a 
number  of  these  anecdotes  have  been  interspersed  in 
this  work  ;  a  few,  which  did  not  seem  immediately  to 
suit  the  didactic  nature  of  any  of  our  chapters,  remain, 
and  with  much  hesitation  and  diffidence  are  offered  to 
the  public.  We  have  selected  such  anecdotes  as  may 

*  Mrs.  Honora  Edgeworth,  daughter  of  Edward  Sneyd,  Esq.  of 
Litchfield.  As  this  lady's  name  has  been  mentioned  in  a  monody  on 
the  death  of  Major  Andre,  we  take  this  opportunity  of  correcting  a 
mistake  that  occurs  in  a  note  to  that  performance. 

"  Till  busy  rumour  chas'd  each  pleasing  dream, 
And  quench'd  the  radiance  of  the  silver  beam." 

Monody  on  Major  Andrd. 
The  note  on  these  lines  is  as  follows : — 

"  The  tidings  of  Honora's  marriage.    Upon  that  event  Mr.  Andre 
quitted  his  profession  as  a  merchant,  and  joined  our  army  in  America." 
Miss  Honora  Sneyd  was  married  to  Mr.  Edgeworth  in  July,  1773, 
and  the  date  of  Major  Andre's  first  commission  in  the  Welch  Fusi- 
liers is  March  4th,  1771. 


APPENDIX.  525 

in  some  measure  illustrate  the  principles  that  we  have 
endeavoured  to  establish  ;  and  we  hope,  that  from  these 
trifling  but  genuine  conversations  of  children  and  pa- 
rents, the  reader  will  distinctly  perceive  the  difference 
between  practical  and  theoretic  education.  As  some 
farther  apology  for  offering  them  'to  the  public,  we 
recur  to  a  passage  in  Dr.  Reid's*  Essays,  which  en- 
courages an  attempt  to  study  minutely  the  minds  of 
children. 

"  If  we  could  obtain  a  distinct  and  full  history  of  all  that 
hath  passed  in  the  mind  of  a  child  from  the  beginning  of 
life  and  sensation  till  it  grows  up  to  the  use  of  reason, 
how  its  infant  faculties  began  to  work,  and  how  they 
brought  forth  and  ripened  all  the  various  notions,  opin- 
ions, and  sentiments,  which  we  find  in  ourselves  when 
we  come  to  be  capable  of  reflection,  this  would  be  a 
treasure  of  natural  history  which  would  probably  give 
more  light  into  the  human  faculties,  than  all  the  sys- 
tems of  philosophers  about  them,  from  the  beginning 
of  the  world." 

The  reader,  we  hope,  will  not  imagine  that  we  think  we 
can  present  him  with  this  treasure  of  natural  history  ;  we 
have  only  a  few  scattered  notices,  as  Bacon  would  call 
them,  to  offer:  perhaps,  even  this  slight  attempt  may 
awaken  the  attention  of  persons  equal  to  the  under- 
taking :  if  able  preceptors  and  parents  would  pursue  a 
similar  plan,  we  might,  in  time,  hope  to  obtain  a  full  his- 
tory of  the  infant  mind. 

It  may  occur  to  parents,  that  writing  notes  of  the  re- 
marks of  children  would  lessen  their  freedom  and  sim- 
plicity in  conversation ;  this  would  certainly  be  the  case 
if  care  were  not  taken  to  prevent  the  pupils  from  think- 
ing of  the  notebook.^  The  following  notes  were  never 
seen  by  the  children  who  are  mentioned  in  them ;  and 
though  it  was  in  general  known  in  the  family  that  such 
notes  were  taken,  the  particular  remarks  that  were 
written  down,  were  never  known  to  the  pupils :  nor  was 
any  curiosity  excited  upon  this  subject.  The  attempt 
would  have  been  immediately  abandoned,  if  we  had  per- 
ceived that  it  produced  any  bad  consequences.  The 

*  This  has  been  formerly  quoted  in  the  preface  to  the  Parent's 
Assistant. 

t  The  anecdotes  mentioned  in  the  preceding  pages,  were  read  to  the 
children  with  the  rest  of  the  work 


526  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

simple  language  of  childhood  has  been  preserved  without 
alteration  in  the  following  notes ;  and  as  we  could  not 
devise  any  better  arrangement,  we  have  followed  the 
order  of  time,  and  we  have  constantly  inserted  the  ages 
of  the  children,  for  the  satisfaction  of  preceptors  and 
parents,  to  whom  alone  these  infantine  anecdotes  can  be 
interesting  :  We  say  no  thing  farther  as  to  their  accuracy  : 
if  the  reader  does  not  see  in  the  anecdotes  themselves 
internal  marks  of  veracity,  all  we  could  say  would  be 
of  no  avail. 

X (a  girl  of  five  years  old)  asked  why  a  piece  of 

\  paper  fell  quickly  to  the  ground  when  rumpled  up,  and 
why  so  slowly  when  opened. 

Y (a  girl  of  three  years  and  a  half  old),  seeing  her 

.    sister  taken  care  of  and  nursed  when  she  had  chilblains, 
said  that  she  wished  to  have  chilblains. 

Z (a  girl  between  two  and  three),  when  her  mother 

was  putting  on  her  bonnet,  and  when  she  was  going  out 
to  walk,  looked  at  the  cat,  and  said  with  a  plaintive 
voice,,  "  Poor  pussey ;  you  have  no  bonnet,  pussey  !" 

^      X (five  years  old)  asked  why  she  was  as  tall  as  the 

trees  when  she  was  far  from  them. 

Z (four  years  old)  went  to  church,  and  when  she 

was  there,  said,  "  Do  those  men  do  every  thing  better 
than  we,  because  they  talk  so  loud,  and  I  think  they 
read." 

It  was  a  country  church,  and  people  sang ;  but  the 
v  child  said,  "  She  thought  they  didn't  sing,  but  roared  be- 
^  cause  they  were  shut  up  in  that  place,  and  didn't  like  it." 

L (a  boy  between  three  and  four  years  old)  was 

standing  before  a  grate  with  coals  in  it,  which  were  not 
lighted ;  his  mother  said  to  him,  "  What  is  the  use  of 
coals  ?" 

L .  "  To  put  in  your  grate." 

Mother.  "  Why  are  they  put  there !" 

L .  "To  make  fire." 

Mother.  "  How  do  they  make  fire  ?" 

L .  "  Fire  is  brought  to  them." 

Mother.  "  How  is  fire  brought  to  them  ?" 

L .  "  Fire  is  brought  to  them  upon  a  candle,  and 

put  to  them." 

L ,  a  little  while  afterward,  asked  leave  to  light  a 

candle;  and  when  a  bit  of  paper  was  given  to  him  for 
that  purpose,  said,  "  But,  mother,  may  1  take  some  light 
owt  of  your  tire  to  put  to  HV 


APPENDIX.  527 

This  boy  had  more  exact  ideas  of  property  than 
Prometheus  had. 

Z ,  when  she  was  between  five  and  six,  said, 

"  Water  keeps  things  alive,  and  eating  keeps  alive  chil- 
dren." 

Z (same  age),  meddling  with  a  fly,  said,  "  she  did 

not  hurt  it." — "  Were  you  ever  a  fly  1"  said  her  mother. 
"  Not  that  I  know  o/,"  answered  the  child. 

Z 's  father  sent  her  into  a  room  where  there  were 

some  knives  and  forks.  "  If  you  meddle  with  them," 
said  he,  "  you  may  cut  yourself." 


Z- 

Father. 
Z . 

Father. 


I  won't  cut  myself." 
Can  you  be  sure  of  that  ?" 
No,  but  I  can  take  care." 
'  But  if  you  should  cut  yourself,  would  it  do 


you  any  good  V 

No— Yes." 
'  What  good  ?"• 
Not  to  do  so  another  time." 

(same  age.)     Z 's  mother  said  to  her,  '*  Will 

you  give  me  some  of  your  fat  cheeks  V 

Z .  "  No,  I  cannot,  it  would  hurt  me." 

Mother.  "  But  if  it  would  not  hurt  you,  would  you 
give  me  some  1" 

Z .  "  No,  it  would  make  two  holes  in  my  cheeks 

that  would  be  disagreeable." 

A  sentimental  mother  would,  perhaps,  have  been  dis- 
pleased with  the  simple  answers  of  this  little  girl.  (See 
Sympathy  and  Sensibility.) 

The  following  memorandums  of  Mrs.  H E 

(dated  1779),  have  been  of  great  use  to  us  in  our  chapter 
upon  Toys. 

"  The  playthings  of  children  should  be  calculated  to 
fix  their  attention,  that  they  may  not  get  a  habit  of  doing 
'  any  thing  in  a  listless  manner. 

"  There  are  periods  as  long  as  two  or  three  months  at 
a  time,  in  the  lives  of  young  children,  when  their  bodies 
\  appear  remarkably  active  and  vigorous,  and  their  minds 
dull  and  inanimate  ;  they  are  at  these  times  incapable 
of  comprehending  any  new  ideas,  and  forgetful  of  those 
they  have  already  received.  When  this  disposition  to 
exert  the  bodily  faculties  subsides,  children  show  much 
restlessness  and  distaste  for  their  usual  plays.  The  in- 
tervals between  meals  appear  long  to  them ;  they  ask  a 
multitude  of  questions,  and  are  continually  looking  for- 


5Ss8  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

ward  to  some  future  good;  if  at  this  time  any  mental 
employment  be  presented  to  them,  they  receive  it  with 
the  utmost  avidity,  and  pursue  it  with  assiduity ;  their 
minds  appear  to  have  acquired  additional  powers  from 
having  remained  inactive  for  a  considerable  time." 

(January,  1781.)  Z .  (seven  years  old.)      "What 

are  bones  made  of?  My  father  says  it  has  not  been 
found  out.  If  I  should  find  it  out,  I  shall  be  wiser  in  that 
respect  than  my  father." 

(April  8th.)  Z— .  "What  becomes  of  the  blood 
when  people  die  ]" 

Father.  "  It  stays  in  the  body." 

Z .  "I  thought  it  went  out  of  the  body;  because 

you  told  me,  that  what  we  eat  was  turned  into  blood, 
and  that  blood  nourished  the  body  and  kept  it  alive." 

Father.  "  Yes,  my  dear  ;  but  blood  must  be  in  motion 
to  keep  the  body  alive;  the  heart  moves  the  blood 
through  the  arteries  and  veins,  and  the  blood  comes 
back  again  to  the  heart.  We  don't  know  how  this 
motion  is  performed.  What  we  eat  is  not  turned  at 
once  into  blood ;  it  is  dissolved  by  something  in  the 
stomach,  and  is  turned  into  something  white  like  milk, 
which  is  called  chyle ;  the  chyle  passes  through  little 
pipes  in  the  body,  called  lacteals,  and  into  the  veins  and 
arteries,  and  becomes  blood.  But  I  don't  know  how.  I 
will  show  you  the  inside  of  the  body  of  a  dead  pig :  a 
pig's  inside  is  something  like  that  of  a  man." 

Z (same  age),  when  her  father  had  given  her  an 

account  of  a  large  stone  that  was  thrown  to  a  consid- 
erable distance  from  Mount  Vesuvius  at  the  time  of  an 
eruption,  asked,  how  the  air  could  keep  a  large  stone 
from  falling,  when  it  would  not  support  her  weight. 

Z (same  age),  when  she  was  reading  the  Roman 

history,  was  asked,  what  she  thought  of  the  conduct  of 

the  wife  of  Asdrubal.     Z said  she  did  not  like  her. 

She  was  asked  why.     The  first  reason  Z gave  for 

not  liking  the  lady,  was,  "  that  she  spoke  loud ;"  the 
next,  "  that  she  was  unkind  to  her  husband,  and  killed 
her  children." 

We  regret  (though  perhaps  our  readers  may  rejoice) 
that  several  years  elapsed  in  which  these  little  notes  of 
the  remarks  of  children  were  discontinued.  In  1792  the 
following  notes  were  begun  by  one  of  the  same  family. 

(March,  '92.)  Mr. saw  an  Irish  giant  at  Bristol, 

and  when  he  came  home,  Mr gave  his  children  a 


APPENDIX.  529 

description  of  the  giant.     His  height,  he  said,  was  about 

eight   feet.     S (a  boy  of  five  years  old)  asked 

whether  this  giant  had  lived  much  longer  than  other 
men. 

Father.  "  No ;  why  did  you  think  he  had  lived  longei 
than  other  men !" 

5 .  "  Because  he  was  so  much  taller." 

Father.  "Well." 

S .  "  And  he  had  so  much  more  time  to  grow." 

Father.  "  People,  after  a  certain  age,  do  not  grow  any 

more.    Your  sister  M ,  and  I,  and  your  mother, 

have  not  grown  any  taller  since  you  can  remember, 
have  we  ?" 

S .  "  No  ;  but  I  have,  and  B ,  and  O ." 

Father.  "  Yes ;  you  are  children.  While  people  are 
growing,  they  are  children ;  after  they  have  done  grow- 
ing, they  are  called  men  and  women." 

(April,  '92.)  At  tea-time,  to-day,  somebody  said  that 
hot  chocolate  scalds  worse  than  hot  tea  or  hot  water. 
Mr. asked  his  children  if  they  could  give  any  rea- 
son for  this.  They  were  silent. 

Mr. .  "  If  water  be  made  as  hot  as  it  can  be  made, 

and  if  chocolate  be  made  as  hot  as  it  can  be  made,  the 
chocolate  will  scald  you  the  most.  Can  you  tell  me 
why?" 

C .  (a  girl  between  eight  and  nine  years  old.)  "  Be- 
cause there  is  oil,  I  believe,  in  the  chocolate ;  and  be- 
cause it  is  thicker,  and  the  parts  closer  together,  than  in 
tea  or  water." 

Father.  "  What  you  say  is  true ;  but  you  have  not  ex- 
plained the  reason  yet.  Well,  H ." 

H .  (a  boy  between  nine  and  ten.)  "  Because  there 

is  water  in  the  bubbles." 

Father.  "  Water  in  the  bubbles  ?  I  don't  understand. 
Water  in  what  bubbles  V 

H .  "  I  thought  I  had  always  seen,  when  water 

boils,  that  there  are  a  great  many  little  bubbles  upon 
the  top." 

Father.  "Well;  but  what  has  that  to  do  with  the 
question  I  asked  you  1" 

H .  "  Because  the  cold  air  that  was  in  the  bub- 
bles would  cool  the  water  next  them,  and  then" — (he 
was  quite  confused,  and  stopped.) 

B (a  girl  of  ten  or  eleven  years  old)  spoke  next. 

"  I  thought  that  chocolate  was  much  thicker  than  water, 
45 


530  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

and  there  were  more  parts,  and  those  parts  were  closer 
together,  and  each  could  hold  but  a  certain  quantity  of 
heat ;  and  therefore  chocolate  could  be  made  hotter 
than  water." 

Father,  "  That  is  a  good  chymical  idea.  You  suppose 
that  the  chocolate  and  tea  can  be  saturated  with  heat. 
But  you  have  none  of  you  yet  told  the  reason." 

The  children  were  all  silent. 

Father.  "Can  water  ever  be  made  hotter  than  boiling 
hot !" 

B .  "No." 

Father.  "Why!" 

B .  "  I  don't  know." 

Father.  "  What  happens  to  water  when  it  does  what 
we  call  boil?" 

H .  "It  bubbles,  and  makes  a  sort  of  noise." 

B .  "  It  turns  into  steam  or  vapour,  I  believe." 

Father.  "  All  at  once  V 

B .  "  No :  but  what  is  at  the  top,  first." 

Father.  "  Now  you  see  the  reason  why  water  can't 
be  made  hotter  than  boiling  hot :  for  if  a  certain  degree 
of  heat  be  applied  to  it,  it  changes  into  the  form  of  va- 
pour, and  flies  off.  When  I  was  a  little  boy,  I  was  once 
near  having  a  dreadful  accident.  I  had  not  been  taught 
the  nature  of  water,  and  steam,  and  heat,  and  evapora- 
tion ;  and  I  wanted  to  fill  a  wet  hollow  stick  with  melted 
lead.  The  moment  I  poured  the  lead  into  the  stick,  the 
water  in  the  wood  turned  into  vapour  suddenly,  and  the 
lead  was  thrown  up  with  great  violence  to  the  ceiling: 
my  face  narrowly  escaped.  So  you  see  people  should 
know  what  they  are  about  before  they  meddle  with 
things. — But  now  as  to  the  chocolate." 

No  one  seemed  to  have  any  thing  to  say  about  the 
chocolate. 

Father.  "  Water,  you  know,  boils  with  a  certain  de- 
gree of  heat.  Will  oil,  do  you  think,  boil  with  the  same 
heat?" 

C .  "  I  don't  understand." 

Father.  "In  the  same  degree  of  heat  (you  must  learn 
to  accustom  yourself  to  those  words,  though  they  seem 
difficult  to  you) — in  the  same  heat,  do  you  think  water 
or  oil  would  boil  the  soonest  ?" 

None  of  the  children  knew. 

Father.  "  Water  would  boil  the  soonest.  More  heat 
is  necessary  to  make  oil  boil,  or  turn  into  vapour,  than 


APPENDIX.  531 

to  make  water  evaporate.  Do  you  know  of  any  thing 
which  is  used  to  determine,  to  show,  and  mark  to  us  the 
different  degrees  of  heat  T' 

B .  "  Yes ;  a  thermometer." 

Father.  "  Yes  :  thermometer  conies  from  two  Greek 
words,  one  of  which  signifies  heat,  and  the  other  meas- 
ure. Meter,  means  measure.  Thermometer  a  measurer 
of  heat ;  barometer,  a  measurer  of  the  weight  of  the  air ; 
hygrometer,  a  measurer  of  moisture.  Now,  if  you  re- 
member, on  the  thermometer  you  have  seen  these  words 
at  a  certain  mark,  the  heat  of  boiling  water.  The  quick- 
silver in  a  thermometer,  rises  to  that  mark  when  it  is 
exposed  to  that  degree  of  heat  which  will  make  the 
water  turn  into  vapour.  Now  the  degree  of  heat  which 
is  necessary  to  make  oil  evaporate,  is  not  marked  on  the 
thermometer ;  but  it  requires  several  degrees  more  heat 
to  evaporate  oil,  than  is  necessary  to  evaporate  water. 
So  now  you  know  that  chocolate,  containing  more  oil 
than  is  contained  in  tea,  must  be  made  hotter  before  it 
turns  into  vapour." 

Children  may  be  led  to  acquire  a  taste  for  chymistry 
by  slight  hints  in  conversation. 

(July  22d,  1794.)  Father.  "  S ,  can  you   tell  me 

what  is  meant  by  a  body's  falling  1" 

S (seven  years  old.)  "  A  body's  falling,  means  a 

body's  dying,  I  believe." 

Father.  "  By  body,  I  don't  mean  a  person,  but  any 
thing.  What  is  meant  by  any  thing's  falling  1" 

-S .  "  Coming  down  from  a  high  place." 

Father.  "  What  do  you  mean  by  high  place  ?" 

-S .    "A  place  higher  than  places  usually  are; 

higher  than  the  ground." 

Father.  "  What  do  you  mean  by  the  ground  V 

-S .  "  The  earth." 

Father.  "  What  shape  do  you  think  the  earth  is*" 

-S .  "Round." 

Father,  "  Why  do  you  think  it  is  round  T1 

S .  "  Because  I  have  heard  a  great  many  people 

say  so." 

Father.  "  The  shadow. — It  is  so  difficult  to  explain  to 
you,  my  dear,  why  we  think  that  the  earth  is  round,  tha 
I  will  not  attempt  it  yet." 

It  is  better,  as  we  have  often  observed,  to  avoid  al 
\   imperfect  explanations,  which  give  children  confuset. 
ideas. 

Z  2 


532  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

(August  18th,  1794.)  Master came  to  see  us,  and 

taught  S to  fish  for  minnows.  It  was  explained  to 

S ,  that  fishing  with  worms  for  bait,  tortures  the 

worms.  No  other  argument  was  used,  no  sentimental 

exclamations  made  upon  the  occasion  ;  and  S fished 

no  more,  nor  did  he  ever  mention  the  subject  again. 

Children  sometimes  appear  cruel,  when  in  fact  they 
do  not  know  that  they  give  pain  to  animals. 

(July  27th,  1794.)  S saw  a  beautiful  rainbow,  and 

he  said,  "  I  wish  I  could  walk  over  that  fine  arch." 

This  is  one  of  the  pleasures  of  Ariel,  and  of  the  Sylphs 

.in  the  Rape  of  the  Lock.  S was  not  praised  for  a 

*  poetic  wish,  lest  he  should  learn  affectation. 

(September  3d,  1794.)  Mr. attempted  to  explain 

to  B ,  H ,  S ,  and  C ,  the  nature  of  ensu- 

rance,  and  the  day  afterward  he  asked  them  to  explain 
it  to  him.  They  none  of  them  understood  it,  except 

B ,  who  could  not,  however,  explain  it,  though  she 

did  understand  it.  The  terms  were  all  new  to  them, 
and  they  had  no  ships  to  ensure. 

(September  19th.)  At  dinner  to-day,  S (seven 

years  old)  said  to  his  sister  C ,  "  What  is  the  name 

of  that  man  that  my  father  was  talking  to,  that  sounded 
like  Idem,  Isdal,  or  Izard,  I  believe."— "  Izard !"  said 
somebody  at  table,  "  that  name  sounds  like  Lizard ;  yes, 
there  is  a  family  of  the  Lizards  in  the  Guardian." 

/S .  "  A  real  family  V 

Mr. .  "  No,  my  dear :  a  name  given  to  supposed 

characters." 

M .  "Wasn't  it  one  of  the  young  Lizards  who 

would  prove  to  his  mother,  when  she  had  just  scalded 
her  fingers  with  boiling  water  out  of  the  tea-kettle,  that 
there's  no  more  heat  in  fire  that  heats  you,  than  pain  in 
the  stick  that  beats  you  ?" 

jVfr.  .  »  Yes ;  I  think  that  character  has  done 

harm  ;  it  has  thrown  a  ridicule  upon  metaphysical  dis- 
quisitions." 

Mrs. .  "  Are  not  those  lines  about  the  pain  in  the 

stick  in  the  '  Letter*  to  my  Sisters  at  Crux  Easton,'  in 
Dodsley's  poems  f" 

Mr. .  "  Yes ;  but  they  come  originally  from  Hu- 

dibras,  you  know." 

In  slight  conversations,  such  as  these,  which  are  not 

*  Soame  Jenyns's. 


APPENDIX.  533 

contrived  for  the  purpose,  the  curiosity  of  children  is 
awakened  to  literature  ;  they  see  the  use  which  people 
make  of  what  they  read,  and  they  learn  to  talk  freely 
about  what  they  meet  with  in  books.  What  a  variety 
of  thoughts  came  in  a  few  instants  from  S ?s  ques- 
tion about  Idem ! 

(November  8th,  1795.)  Mr.  read  the  first  chapter 

of  Hugh  Trevor  to  us ;  which  contains  the  history  of  a 
passionate  farmer,  who  was  in  a  rage  with  a  goose 
because  it  would  not  eat  some  oats  which  he  offered  it. 
He  tore  off  the  wings  of  the  animal,  and  twisted  off  its 
neck ;  he  bit  off  the  ear  of  a  pig,  because  it  squealed 
when  he  was  ringing  it ;  he  ran  at  his  apprentice,  Hugh 
Trevor,  with  a  pitchfork,  because  he  suspected  that  he 
had  drunk  some  milk ;  the  pitchfork  stuck  in  a  door. 
Hugh  Trevor  then  told  the  passionate  farmer,  that  the 
dog  Jowler  had  drunk  the  milk,  but  that  he  would  not 
tell  this  before,  because  he  knew  his  master  would  hang 
the  dog. 

S admired  Hugh  Trevor  for  this  extremely. 

The  farmer,  in  his  lucid  intervals,  is  extremely  peni- 
tent, but  his  fit  of  rage  seizes  him  again  one  morning, 
when  he  sees  some  milk  boiling  over.  He  flies  at  Hugh 
Trevor,  and  stabs  him  with  a  claspknife  with  which  he 
had  been  cutting  bread  and  cheese  ;  the  knife  is  stopped 
by  half  a  crown  which  Hugh  Trevor  had  sewed  in  his 
waistcoat ;  this  half  crown  he  had  found  on  the  highway  a 
few  days  before. 

It  was  doubted  by  Miss  M.  S ,  whether  this  last 

was  a  proper  circumstance  to  be  told  to  children,  be- 
cause it  might  lead  them  to  be  dishonest. 

The  evening  after  Mr. had  read  the  story,  he 

asked  S to  repeat  it  to  him.     S remembered  it, 

and  told  it  distinctly  till  he  came  to  the  half  crown;  at 
this  circumstance  he  hesitated.  He  said  he  did  not 
know  how  Hugh  Trevor  " came  to  keep  it"  though  he 
had  found  it.  He  wondered  that  Hugh  Trevor  did  not 
ask  about  it. 

Mr. explained  to  him,  that  when  a  person  finds 

any  thing  upon  the  highway,  he  should  put  it  into  the 

hand  of  the  public  crier,  who  should  cry  it.     Mr. 

was  not  quite  certain  whether  the  property  found  on  the 
high  road,  after  it  has  been  cried  and  no  owner  appears, 
belongs  to  the  king,  or  to  the  person  who  finds  it.  Black- 
stone's  Commentaries  were  consulted ;  the  passage 


534  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

concerning  Treasuretrove  was  read  to  S ;  it  is  writ- 
ten in  such  distinct  language,  that  he  understood  it  com- 
pletely. 

Young  people  may  acquire  much  knowledge  by  con- 
sulting books,  at  the  moment  that  any  interest  is  excited 
by  conversation  upon  particular  subjects. 

Explanations  about  the  law  were  detailed  to  S , 

because  he  was  intended  for  a  lawyer.  In  conversation 
we  may  direct  the  attention  of  children  to  what  are  to 
be  their  professional  studies,  and  we  may  associate  en- 
tertainment and  pleasure  with  the  idea  of  their  future 
profession. 

The  story  of  the  passionate  farmer  in  Hugh  Trevor 
was  thought  to  be  a  good  lesson  for  children  of  viva- 
cious tempers,  as  it  shows  to  what  crimes  excess  of 
passion  may  transport.  This  man  appears  an  object  of 
compassion  ;  all  the  children  felt  a  mixture  of  pity  and 
abhorrence  when  they  heard  the  history  of  his  decease. 

(November  23d,  1795.)  This  morning  at  breakfast 

Miss observed,  that  the  inside  of  the  cream  cover, 

which  was  made  of  black  Wedgwood's  ware,  looked 
brown  and  speckled,  as  if  the  glazing  had  been  worn 
away  ;  she  asked  whether  this  was  caused  by  the  cream. 
One  of  the  company  immediately  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  I 
have  heard  that  Wedgwood's  ware  won't  hold  oil."  Mr. 
observed,  that  it  would  be  best  to  try  the  experi- 
ment, instead  of  resting  content  with  this  hearsay  evi- 
dence ;  he  asked  H— —  and  S what  would  be  the 

best  method  of  trying  the  experiment  exactly. 

S proposed  to  pour  oil  into  a  vessel  of  Wedg- 
wood's ware,  and  to  measure  the  depth  of  the  oil  when 
first  put  in ;  to  leave  the  oil  in  the  vessel  for  some  time, 
and  then  to  measure  again  the  depth  of  the  oil. 

H said,  "  I  would  weigh  the  Wedgwood's  ware 

vessel ;  then  pour  oil  into  it  again ;  then  I  would  leave 
the  oil  in  the  vessel  for  some  time,  and  afterward  I 
would  pour  out  the  oil,  and  would  weigh  the  vessel  to 
see  if  it  had  gained  any  weight ;  and  then  weigh  the  oil 
to  find  out  whether  it  had  lost  any  weight  since  it  was 
put  into  the  vessel."  H 's  scheme  was  approved. 

A  black  Wedgwood's  ware  saltcellar  was  weighed  in 
accurate  scales  ;  it  weighed  1196  grains;  110  grains  of 
oil  were  poured  into  it ;  total  weight  of  the  saltcellar 
and  oil,  1306  grs.  Six  months  afterward,  the  saltcellar 
was  produced  to  the  children,  who  were  astonished  to 


APPENDIX.  535 

perceive  that  the  oil  had  disappeared.  The  lady  who 
had  first  asserted  that  Wedgwood's  ware  would  not  hold 
oil,  was  inclined  to  believe  that  the  oil  had  oozed  through 
the  pores  of  the  saltcellar ;  but  the  little  spectators 
thought  it  was  more  probable  that  -the  oil  might  have 
been  accidentally  spilled  ;  the  saltcellar  weighed  as  be- 
fore, 1196  grains. 

The  experiment  was  repeated,  and  this  time  it  was 
resolved  to  lock  up  the  saltcellar,  that  it  might  not  again 
be  thrown  down. 

(April  14th,  1796.)  Into  the  same  saltcellar  100  grains 
weight  of  oil  was  poured  (total  weight,  1296  grains). 
The  saltcellar  was  put  on  a  saucer,  and  covered  with  a 

glass  tumbler.     (June  3d,  1796.)  Mr. weighed  the 

saltcellar,  and  found  that  with  the  oil  it  weighed  pre 
cisely  the  same  as  before,  1296  grains  ;  without  the  oil, 
1196  grains,  its  original  weight :  therefore  it  was  clear 
that  the  Wedgwood's  ware  had  neither  imbibed  the  oil, 
nor  let  it  pass  through  its  pores. 

This  little  experiment  has  not  been  thus  minutely  told 
for  philosophers,  but  for  children  ;  however  trivial  the 
subject,  it  is  useful  to  teach  children  early  to  try  exper- 
iments. Even  the  weighing  and  calculating  in  this 
experiment  amused  them,  and  gave  some  ideas  of  the 
exactness  necessary  to  prove  any  fact. 

(Dec.  1st,  1795.)    S (8  years  old),  in  reading  Gay's 

fable  of  "  the  painter  who  pleased  everybody  and  no- 
body," was  delighted  to  hear  that  the  painter  put  his 

palette  upon  his  thumb,  because  S had  seen  a  little 

palette  of  his  sister  A 's,  which  she  used  to  put  on 

her  thumb.     S had  been  much  amused  by  this, 

and  he  was  very  fond  of  this  sister,  who  had  been  ab- 
sent for  some  time.  Association  makes  slight  circum- 
stances agreeable  to  children  ;  if  we  do  not  know  these 
associations,  we  are  surprised  at  their  expressions  of 
delight.  It  is  useful  to  trace  them.  (See  Chapter  on 
Imagination.) 

S seemed  puzzled  when  he  read  that  the  painter 

"  dipped  his  pencil,  talked  of  Greece" — "  Why  did  he 
talk  of  Greece  ?"  said  S with  a  look  of  astonish- 
ment. Upon  inquiry,  it  was  found  that  S mistook 

the  word  Greece  for  Grease  I 

It  was  explained  to  him,  that  Grecian  statues  and 
Grecian  figures  are  generally  thought  to  be  particularly 


536  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

graceful  and  well  executed;  that,  therefore,  painters 
attend  to  them. 

(Dec.  1st,  1795.)  After  dinner  to-day,  S was 

looking  at  a  little  black  toothpick-case  of  his  father's ; 
his  father  asked  him  if  he  knew  what  it  was  made  of. 

The  children  guessed  different  things ;  wood,  horn, 
bone,  paper,  pasteboard,  glue. 

Mr. .  "  Instead  of  examining  the  toothpick-case, 

S ,  you  hold  it  in  your  hand,  and  turn  your  eyes 

away  from  it,  that  you  may  think  the  better.  Now, 
when  I  want  to  find  o^ut  any  thing  about  a  particular  ob- 
ject, I  keep  my  eye  fixed  upon  it.  Observe  the  texture 
of  that  toothpick-case,  if  you  want  to  know  the  mate- 
rials of  which  it  is  made ;  look  at  the  edges,  feel  it." 

S .  «  May  I  smell  it  ?" 

Mr. .  "  Oh  yes.     You  may  use  all  your  senses." 

S .  (feeling  the  toothpick-case,  smelling  it,  and 

looking  closely  at  it.)  *'  It  is  black,  and  smooth,  and 
strong,  and  light.  What  is,  let  me  see,  both  strong  and 
light,  and  it  will  bend — parchment." 

Mr. .  "That  is  a  good  guess ;  but  you  are  not 

quite  right  yet.  What  is  parchment  T  I  think  by  your 
look  that  you  don't  know." 

<S .  *'  Is  it  not  paper  pasted  together  !" 

Mr. .  "  No ;  I  thought  you  mistook  pasteboard 

for  parchment." 

«S .  "  Is  parchment  skin]" 

Mr. -.  "Of what?" 

*S .  "  Animals." 

Mr. .  "What  animal?" 

5 .  "  I  don't  know." 

Mr. .  "  Parchment  is  the  skin  of  sheep." 

"  But  S ,  don't  keep  the  toothpick-case  in  your 

hand,  push  it  round  the  table  to  your  neighbours,  that 
everybody  may  look  again  before  they  guess.  I  think, 

for  certain  reasons  of  my  own,  that  H will  guess 

right." 

H .  "  Oh,  I  know  what  it  is  now  !" 

H had  lately  made  a  pump,  the  piston  of  which 

was  made  of  leather ;  the  leather  had  been  wet,  and 

then  forced  through  a  mould  of  the  proper  size.  H 

recollected  this,  as  Mr. thought  he  would,  and 

guessed  that  the  case  might  have  been  made  of  leather, 
and  by  a  similar  process. 


APPENDIX. 


537 


S  -  .  "  Is  it  made  of  the  skin  of  some  animal  V 
Mr.  -  .  "  Yes  ;  but  what  do  you  mean  by  the  skin 
of  some  animal  T    What  do  you  call  it  !" 

5  -  .  (laughing.)     "  Oh,  leather  !  leather  !" 

H  -  .  "  Yes,  it's  made  in  the  same  way  that  the 
piston  of  my  pump  is  made,  I  suppose." 

M  --  .  "  Could  not  shoes  be  made  in  the  same  man- 
ner in  a  mould  "?" 

Mr.  -  .  "  Yes  ;  but  there  would  be  one  disadvan- 
tage :  the  shoes  would  lose  their  shape  as  soon  as  they 
were  wet  ;  and  the  sole  and  upper  leather  must  be  nearly 
of  the  same  thickness." 

6  -  .  "  Is  the  toothpick-case  made  out  of  any  par- 
ticular kind  of  leather  1     I  wish  1  could  make  one  !" 

M  -  .  "  You  have  a  bit  of  green  leather,  will  you 

five  it  to  me  1  I'll  punch  it  out  like  H  -  's  piston  ;  but 
don't  exactly  know  how  the  toothpick-case  was  made 
into  the  right  shape." 

Mr.  -  .  "  It  was  made  in  the  same  manner  in  which 
silver  pencil-cases  and  thimbles  are  made.  If  you  take 
a  thin  piece  of  silver,  or  of  any  ductile  material,  and  lay 
it  over  a  concave  mould,  you  can  readily  imagine  that 
you  can  make  the  thin,  ductile  material,  take  the  shape 
of  any  mould  into  which  you  put  it  ;  and  you  may  go  on 
forcing  it  into  moulds  of  different  depths,  till  at  last  the 
plate  of  silver  will  have  been  shaped  into  a  cylindrical 
form  ;  a  thimble,  a  pencil-case,  a  toothpick-case,  or  any 
similar  figure." 

We  have  observed  (See  Mechanics)  that  children 
should  have  some  general  idea  of  mechanics  before 
they  go  into  the  large  manufactories  ;  this  can  be  given 
to  them  from  time  to  time  in  conversation,  when  little 
circumstances  occur  which  naturally  lead  to  the  subject. 

(November  30th,  1795).  S  -  said  he  liked  the  be- 
ginning of  Gay's  fable  of  "  The  man  and  the  flea,"  very 
much,  but  he  could  riot  tell  what  was  meant  by  the  crab's 
crawling  beside  the  coral  grove,  and  hearing  the  ocean 
roll  above.  "The  ocean  cannot  roll  a6oue,can  it,  mother1?" 

Mother.  "  Yes,  when  the  animal  is  crawling  below,  he 
hears  the  water  rolling  above  him." 

M  -  .  "  Coral  groves  mean  the  branches  of  coral 
which  look  like  trees  ;  you  saw  some  at  Bristol  in  Mr. 
B  -  's  collection." 

The  difficulty  S  -  found  in  understanding  "  coral 
groves,"  confirms  what  has  been  observed,  that  children 
Z3 


538  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

should  never  read  poetry  without  its  being  thoroughly 
explained  to  them.  (See  Chapter  on  Books.) 

(January  10th,  1795.)  S (8  years  old)  said  that 

he  had  been  thinking  about  the  wind  ;  and  he  believed 
that  it  was  the  earth's  turning  round  that  made  the  wind. 

M .  "  Then  how  comes  it  that  the  wind  does  not 

blow  always  the  same  way  ?" 

S "  Ay,  that's  the  thing  I  can't  make  out ;  be- 
sides, perhaps  the  air  would  stick  to  the  earth  as  it 
turns  round,  as  thread  sticks  to  my  spinning  top,  and  go 
round  with  it." 

(January  4th,  1795.)  As  we  were  talking  of  the  king 

of  Poland's  little  dwarf,  S recollected  by  contrast 

the  Irish  giant  whom  he  had  seen  at  Bristol.  "  I  liked 

the  Irish  giant  very  much,  because,"  said  S 

"  though  he  was  so  large,  he  was  not  surly ;  and 
when  my  father  asked  him  to  take  out  his  shoebuckle 
to  try  whether  it  would  cover  my  foot,  he  did  not  seem 
in  a  hurry  to  do  it.  I  suppose  he  did  not  wish  to 
show  how  little  I  was." 

Children  are  nice  observers  of  that  kind  of  politeness 
\  which  arises  from  good-nature  ;  they  may  hence  learn 
what  really  pleases  in  manners,  without  being  taught 
grimace. 

Dwarfs  and  giants  led  us  to  Gulliver's  Travels.  S 

had  never  read  them,  but  one  of  the  company  now  gave 
him  some  general  account  of  Lilliput  and  Brobdignag. 
He  thought  the  account  of  the  little  people  more  enter- 
taining than  that  of  the  large  ones ;  the  carriage  of 
Gulliver's  hat  by  a  team  of  Lilliputian  horses,  diverted 
him  ;  but,  when  he  was  told  that  the  queen  of  Brobdig- 
nag's  dwarf  stuck  Gulliver  one  day  at  dinner  into  a  mar- 
rowbone, S looked  grave,  and  seemed  rather 

shocked  than  amused ;  he  said,  "  It  must  have  almost 
suffocated  poor  Gulliver,  and  must  have  spoiled  his 

clothes."  S wondered  of  what  cloth  they  could 

make  him  new  clothes,  because  the  cloth  in  Brobdignag 
must  have  been  too  thick,  and  as  thick  as  a  board.  He 
also  wished  to  know  what  sort  of  glass  was  used  to 
glaze  the  windows  in  Gulliver's  wooden  house :  "  be- 
cause," said  he,  "  their  common  glass  must  have  been 
so  thick  that  it  would  not  have  been  transparent  to  Gul- 
liver." He  thought  that  Gulliver  must  have  been  ex- 
tremely afraid  of  setting  his  small  wooden  house  on  fire. 

M .  "  Why  more  afraid  than  we  are  ?  his  house 

was  as  large  for  Gulliver  as  our  house  is  for  us." 


APPENDIX.  539 

S .  "  Yes,  but  what  makes  the  fire  must  have  been 

so  much  larger  !  One  cinder,  one  spark  of  theirs,  would 
have  filled  his  little  grate.  And  how  did  he  do  to  read 
their  books  ?" 

£ was  told  that  Gulliver  stood  at  the  topmost  line 

of  the  page,  and  ran  along  as  fast  as  he  read,  till  he  got 
to  the  bottom  of  the  page.  It  was  suggested  that  Gul- 
liver might  have  used  a  diminishing  glass.  S im- 
mediately exclaimed,  "  How  entertaining  it  must  have 
been  to  him  to  look  through  their  telescopes."  An 
instance  of  invention  arising  from  contrast. 

If  the  conversation  had  not  here  been  interrupted, 

S would  probably  have  invented  a  greater  variety 

of  pleasures  and  difficulties  for  Gulliver ;  his  eagerness 
to  read  Gulliver's  Travels,  was  increased  by  this  con- 
versation. We  should  let  children  exercise  their  inven- 
tion upon  all  subjects,  and  not  tell  them  the  whole  of 
''  every  thing,  and  all  the  ingenious  parts  of  a  story.  Some- 
times they  invent  these,  and  are  then  interested  to  see 
how  the  real  author  has  managed  them.  Thus,  chil- 
dren's love  for  literature  may  be  increased,  and  the 
activity  of  their  minds  may  be  exercised.  "  Le  secret 
*  d'ennuyer,"  says  an  author*  who  never  tires  us,  "  Le 
/  secret  d'ennuyer  est  celui  de  tout  dire."  This  may  be 
applied  to  the  art  of  education.  (See  Attention,  Mem- 
ory and  Invention.) 

(January  17th,  1796.)  S .  "I  don't  understand 

about  the  tides." 

H .  (thirteen  years  old.)  "The  moon,  when  it 

comes  near  the  earth,  draws  up  the  sea  by  the  middle,  at- 
tracts it,  and,  as  the  middle  rises,  the  water  runs  down 
from  that  again  into  the  channels  of  rivers." 

S -.  "  But — Hum  ! — the  moon  attracts  the  sea ;  but 

why  does  not  the  sun  attract  it  by  the  middle  as  well  as 
the  moon  1  How  can  you  be  sure  that  it  is  the  moon 
that  does  it  1" 

Mr. .  "  We  are  not  sure  that  the  moon  is  the 

cause  of  tides." 

We  should  never  force  any  system  upon  the  belief  of 
f  children ;  but  wait  till  they  can  understand  all  the  argu- 
ments on  each  side  of  the  question. 

(January  18th,  1796.)  S (nine  years  old.)  "  Father, 

\  have  thought  of  a  reason  for  the  wind's  blowing." 

*  Voltaire. 


540  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

"  When  there  has  been  a  hot,  sunshiny  day,  and  when 
the  ground  has  been  wet,  the  sun  attracts  a  great  deal 
of  vapour  :  then  that  vapour  must  have  room,  so  it  must 
push  away  some  air  to  make  room  for  itself;  besides, 
vapour  swells  with  heat,  so  it  must  have  a  great,  great  deal 
of  room  as  it  grows  hotter  and  hotter  ;  and  the  moving 
the  air  to  make  way  for  it  must  make  wind." 

It  is  probable,  that  if  children  are  not  early  taught  by 
rote  words  which  they  cannot  understand,  they  will 
think  for  themselves ;  and,  however  strange  their  in- 
cipient theories  may  appear,  there  is  hope  for  the  im- 
provement of  children  as  long  as  their  minds  are  active. 

(February  13th,  1796.)  S .  "  How  do  physicians 

try  new  medicines  1  If  they  are  not  sure  they  will 
succeed,  they  may  be  hanged  for  murder,  mayn't  they  ] 
It  is  cruel  to  try  them  (them  meant  medicines)  on  ani- 
mals ;  besides,  all  animals  are  not  the  same  as  men.  A 
pig's  inside  is  the  most  like  that  of  a  man.  I  remember 
my  father  showed  us  the  inside  of  a  pig  once." 

Some  time  afterward,  S inquired  what  was  meant 

by  the  circulation  of  the  bloed.  "  How  are  we  sure 
that  it  does  move  T  You  told  me  that  it  doesn't  move 
after  we  die,  then  nobody  can  have  seen  it  really  moving 
in  the  veins  ;  that  beating  that  I  feel  in  my  pulse  does 
not  feel  like  any  thing  running  backward  and  forward  ; 
it  beats  up  and  down." 

The  lady  to  whom  S addressed  these  questions 

and  observations,  unfortunately,  could  not  give  him  any 
information  upon  this  subject,  but  she  had  at  least  the 
prudence,  or  honesty,  to  tell  the  boy  that  "  she  did  not 
know  any  thing  about  the  matter."  ' 

S should  have  been  shown  the  circulation  of  the 

blood  in  fishes  ;  which  he  might  have  seen  by  a  micro- 
scope. 

Children's  minds  turn  to  such  inquiries :  surely,  if 
they  are  intended  for  physicians,  these  are  the  moments 
to  give  them  a  taste  for  their  future  profession,  by  as- 
sociating pleasure  with  instruction,  and  connecting  with 
the  eagerness  of  curiosity  the  hope  of  making  discov- 
eries ;  a  hope  which  all  vivacious  young  people  strongly 
feel. 

(February  16th.)  S objected  to  that  fable  of 

Phaedrus  in  which  it  is  said  that  a  boy  threw  a  stone  at 
jEsop,  and  that  ^Esop  told  the  boy  to  throw  a  stone  at 
another  passenger,  pointing  to  a  rich  man.  The  boy 


APPENDIX.  54 1 

did  as  Msop  desired,  and  the  rich  man  had  the  boy 
hanged. 

S said  that  he  thought  that  ^Esop  should  have 

been  hanged,  because  JEsop  was  the  cause  of  the  boy's 
fault. 

How  little  suited  political  fables  are  to  children. 
This  fable,  which  was  meant  to  show,  we  suppose,  that 
the  rich  could  not,  like  the  poor,  be  insulted  with  im- 
punity, was  quite  unintelligible  to  a  boy  (nine  years  old) 
of  simple  understanding. 

(July  19th,  1796.)  Among  "Vulgar  errors,"  Sir 
Thomas  Browne  might  have  mentioned  the  common 
notion,  that  if  you  take  a  hen  and  hold  her  head  down  to 
the  ground,  and  draw  a  circle  of  chalk  round  her,  she 
will  be  enchanted  by  this  magical  operation  so  that  she 
cannot  stir.  We  determined  to  try  the  experiment,  for 
which  Dr.  Johnson  would  have  laughed  at  us,  as  he 
laughed  at  Browne*  for  trying  "  the  hopeless  experiment" 
about  the  magnetic  dials. 

A  hen's  head  was  held  down  upon  a  stone  flag,  and  a 
chalk  line  was  drawn  before  her ;  she  did  not  move. 
The  same  hen  was  put  into  a  circle  of  chalk  that  had 
been  previously  drawn  for  her  reception  ;  her  head  was 
held  down  according  to  the  letter  of  the  charm,  and  she 
did  not  move  ;  line  or  circle  apparently  operated  alike. 

It  was  suggested  (by  A )  that  perhaps  the  hen  was 

frightened  by  her  head  being  held  down  to  the  ground, 
and  that  the  chalk  line  and  circle  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  business.  The  hen  was  carried  out  of  sight  of  the 
magic  line  and  circle,  her  head  was  held  down  to  the 
ground  as  before ;  and  when  the  person  who  had  held 
her  gently  withdrew  his  hand,  she  did  not  move.  She 
\  did  not,  for  some  instants,  recover  from  her  terror  ;  or, 
perhaps,  the  feeling  of  pressure  seemed  to  her  to  remain 
upon  her  head  after  the  hand  was  withdrawn. 

Children  who  are  accustomed  to  doubt,  and  to  try 
experiments,  will  not  be  dupes  to  "  Vulgar  errors." 

(July  20th,  1796.)  S (between  nine  and  ten),  when 

he  heard  a  lady  propose  to  make  use  of  a  small  glass 
tumbler  to  hold  pomatum,  made  a  face  expressive  of 
great  disgust ;  he  was  begged  to  give  a  reason  for  his 
dislike.  S said  it  appeared  to  him  dirty  and  disa- 

*  See  Johnson's  Life  of  Browne. 


542  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

greeable  to  put  pomatum  into  a  tumbler  out  of  which 
we  are  used  to  drink  wine  or  water. 

We  have  observed  (See  Chapter  on  Taste  and  Ima- 
gination), that  children  may  early  be  led  to  reflect  upon 
the  cause  of  their  tastes. 

(July  24th,  1796.)  S observed  that  "  the  lachry- 
mal sack  is  like  Aboulcasem's  cup,  (in  the  Persian 
tales.)  It  is  emptied  and  fills  again  of  itself;  though  it 
is  emptied  ever  so  often,  it  continues  full." 

The  power  of  reasoning  had  been  more  cultivated  in 

S- than  the  taste  for  wit  or  allusion ;  yet  it  seems 

his  mind  was  not  defective  in  that  quickness  of  seizing 
resemblances  which  may  lead  to  wit.  He  was  not 
praised  for  the  lachrymal  sack  and  Aboulcasem's  cup. 
(See  Chapter  on  Wit  and  Judgment.) 

(August  3d,  1796.)  C (eleven  years  old),  after  she 

had  heard  a  description  of  a  fire-engine,  said,  "  I  want  to 
read  the  description  of  the  fire-engine  over  again  ;  for 
while  my  father  was  describing  one  particular  part,  I 
recollected  something  that  I  had  heard  before,  and  that 
took  my  attention  quite  away  from  what  he  was  saying. 
Very  often  when  I  am  listening,  something  that  is  said 
puts  me  in  mind  of  something,  and  then  I  go  on  think- 
ing of  that,  and  I  cannot  hear  what  is  said  any  longer." 

Preceptors  should  listen  to  the  observations  that  their 

pupils  make  upon  their  minds  ;  this  remark  of  C 

suggested  to  us  some  ideas  that  have  been  detailed  in 
the  "  Chapter  on  Attention." 

(August  1st,  1796.)  S ,  who  had  been  translating 

some  of  Ovid's  Metamorphoses  to  his  father,  exclaimed, 
"I  hate  those  ancient  gods  and  goddesses,  they  are 
so  wicked  !  I  wish  I  was  Perseus,  and  had  his  shield, 
I  would  fly  up  to  heaven  and  turn  Jupiter,  and  Apollo, 
and  Venus,  into  stone  ;  then  they  would  be  too  heavy  to 
stay  in  heaven,  and  they  would  tumble  down  to  earth  ; 
and  then  they  would  be  stone  statues,  and  we  should 
have  much  finer  statues  of  Apollo  and  Venus  than  they 
have  now  at  Rome." 

(September  10th,  1796.)  S (within  a  month  often 

years  old)  read  to  his  sister  M part  of  Dr.  Darwin's 

chapter  upon  instinct ;  that  part  in  which  there  is  an  ac- 
count  of  young  birds  that  learn  to  sing  from  the  birds 

which  take  care  of  them,  not  from  their  parents.  S 

immediately  recollected  a  story  which  he  had  read  last 
winter  in  the  Annual  Register.  (Extract  from  Barring- 


APPENDIX.  543 

ton's  Remarks  upon  Singing-birds.) — "There  was  a 
silly  boy  once  (you  know,  sister,  boys  are  silly  some- 
times), who  used  to  play  in  a  room  where  his  mother 
had  a  nightingale  in  a  cage,  and  the  boy  took  out  of  the 
cage  the  nightingale's  eggs,  and  put  in  some  other  bird's 
eggs  (a  swallow's,  I  think),  and  the  nightingale  hatched 
them  ;  and  when  the  swallows  grew  up  they  sang  like 

nightingales."  When  S had  done  reading,  he  looked 

at  the  title  of  the  book.  He  had  often  heard  his  father 
speak  of  Zoonomia,  and  he  knew  that  Dr.  Darwin  was 
the  author  of  it. 

<S .  "  Oh  ho  !  Zoonomia !  Dr.  Darwin  wrote  it ;  it 

is  very  entertaining :  my  father  told  me  that  when  I  read 
Zoonomia,  I  should  know  the  reason  why  I  stretch  my- 
self when  I  am  tired.  But,  sister,  there  is  one  thing  I 
read  about  the  cuckoo  that  I  did  not  quite  understand. 
May  I  look  at  it  again?"  He  read  the  following  pas- 
sage .— 

"  For  a  hen  teaches  this  language  with  ease  to  the 
ducklings  she  has  hatched  from  supposititious  eggs,  and 
educates  as  her  own  offspring ;  and  the  wagtails  or 
hedge-sparrows  learn  it  from  the  young  cuckoo,  their 
foster-nursling,  and  supply  him  with  his  food  long  after  he 
can  fly  about,  whenever  they  hear  his  cuckooing,  which 
Linnaeus  tells  us  is  his  call  of  hunger." 

S asked  what  Dr.  Darwin  meant  by  "  learns  i7." 

M .  "  Learns  a  language." 

-S .  "  What  does  foster-nursling  mean  V 

M .  "  It  here  means  a  bird  that  is  nursed  along 

with  another,  but  that  has  not  the  same  parents." 

£ .  "  Then,  does  it  not  mean  that  the  sparrows 

learn  from  their  foster-sister,  the  cuckoo,  to  say 
Cuckoo1?" 

M .  "  No  ;  the  sparrow  don't  learn  to  say  cuckoo, 

but  they  learn  to  understand  what  he  means  by  that  cry ; 
that  he  is  hungry." 

S .  "  Well,  but  then  I  think  this  is  a  proof  against 

what  Dr.  Darwin  means  about  instinct." 

M .  "Why?  How!" 

<S .  "  Because  the  young  cuckoo  does  say  cuckoo, 

without  being  taught ;  it  does  not  learn  from  the  spar- 
rows. How  comes  it  to  say  cuckoo  at  all,  if  it  is  not 
by  instinct  1  It  does  not  see  its  own  father  and  mother." 

We  give  this  conversation  as  a  proof  that  our  young 


544  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

pupils  were  accustomed  to  think  about  every  thing  that 
they  read. 

(Nov.  8th,  1796.)  The  following  are  the  "  Curiosities 
of  Literature"  which  were  promised  to  the  reader  in  the 
chapter  upon  Grammar  and  Classical  Literature. 

Translation  from  Ovid.  The  Cave  of  Sleep,  first 
edition. 

"  No  watchful  cock  Aurora's  beams  invite ; 
No  dog  nor  goose,  the  guardians  of  the  night." 

Dog  and  goose  were  objected  to,  and  the  young  author 
changed  them  into  dogs  and  geese. 

"  No  herds,  nor  flocks,  nor  human  voice  is  heard ; 
But  nigh  the  cave  a  rustling  spring  appear'd." 

When  this  line  was  read  to  S ,  he  changed  the 

epithet  rustling  into  gliding. 

"  And  with  soft  murmurs  faithless  sleep  invites, 
And  there  the  flying  past  again  delights ; 
And  near  the  door  the  noxious  poppy  grows, 
And  spreads  his  sleepy  milk  at  daylight's  close." 

S was  now  requested  to  translate  the  beginning 

of  the  sentence,  and  he  produced  these  lines : — 

"  Far  from  the  sun  there  lies  a  cave  forlorn, 
Which  Sol's  bright  beams  can't  enter  eve  nor  morn." 

Can't  was  objected  to.     Mr. asked  S what 

was  the  literal  English.     S first  said  not,  and  then 

nor;  and  he  corrected  his  line,  and  made  it 

"  Which  Sol's  bright  beams  nor  visit  eve  nor  morn.' 
Afterward — 

"  Far  in  a  vale  there  lies  a  cave  forlorn, 
Which  Phoebus  never  enters  eve  nor  morn." 

After  an  interval  of  a  few  days,  the  lines  were  all  read 
to  the  boy,  to  try  whether  he  could  farther  correct  them  ; 
he  desired  to  have  the  two  following  lines  left  out : — 

"  No  herds,  nor  flocks,  nor  human  voice  is  heard 
But  nigh  the  cave  a  gliding  spring  appear'd." 

And  in  the  place  of  them  he  wrote, 

"  No  flocks  nor  herds  disturb  the 
Within  the  sacred  walls  mute  i 

Instead  of  the  two  following : — 


"  No  flocks  nor  herds  disturb  the  silent  plains : 
Within  the  sacred  walls  mute  quiet  reigns." 


APPENDIX.  545 

"  And  with  soft  murmurs  faithless  sleep  invites, 
And  there  the  flying  past  again  delights." 

S desired  his  secretary  to  write, 

"  But  murmuring  Lethe  soothing  sleep  invites, 
In  dreams  again  the  flying  past  delights." 

Instead  of, 

"  And  near  the  doors  the  noxious  poppy  grows, 
And  spreads  his  sleepy  milk  at  daylight's  close," 

the  following  lines  were  written.     S did  not  say 

doors,  because  he  thought  the  cave  had  no  doors  ;  yet 
his  Latin,  he  said,  spoke  of  squeaking  hinges. 

"  From  milky  flowers  that  near  the  cavern  grow, 
Night  scatters  the  collected  sleep  below." 

We  shall  not.  make  any  farther  apology  for  inserting 
all  these  corrections,  because  we  have  already  suffi- 
ciently explained  our  motives.  (See  Chapter  on  Gram- 
mar and  Classical  Literature.) 

(February,  1797.)  A  little  theatre  was  put  up  for  the 
children,  and  they  acted  "Justice  Poz."*  When  the 
scenes  were  pulled  down  afterward,  S was  ex- 
tremely sorry  to  see  the  whole  theatre  vanish ;  he  had 
succeeded  as  an  actor,  and  he  wished  to  have  another 
play  acted.  His  father  did  not  wish  that  he  should  be- 
come ambitious  of  excelling  in  this  way  at  ten  years 
old,  because  it  might  turn  his  attention  away  from  things 
of  more  consequence ;  and  if  he  had  been  much  ap- 
plauded for  this  talent,  he  would,  perhaps,  be  over-stim- 
ulated. (See  Chapter  on  Vanity  and  Ambition.) 

The  way  to  turn  this  boy's  mind  away  from  its  pres- 
ent pursuit,  was  to  give  him  another  object,  not  to  blame 
or  check  him  for  the  natural  expression  of  his  wishes. 
It  is  difficult  to  find  objects  for  children  who  have  not 
cultivated  a  taste  for  literature  ;  but  infinite  variety  can 
be  found  for  those  who  have  acquired  this  happy  taste. 

Soon  after  S had  expressed  his  ardent  wish  to 

have  another  play  performed,  the  trial  of  some  poor 
man  in  the  neighbourhood  happened  to  be  mentioned ; 
and  it  was  said  that  the  criminal  had  the  choice  of  either 
going  to  Botany  Bay,  or  being  hanged. 

S asked  how  that  could  be.    "  I  didn't  think,"  said 

he,  "  that  a  man  could  have  two  punishments.     Can  the 

*  Parent's  Assistant. 


546  PRACTICAL    EDUCATION. 

judge  change  the  punishment  1  I  thought  it  was  fixed 
by  the  law." 

Mr. told  S that  these  were  sensible  ques- 
tions ;  and  as  he  saw  that  the  boy's  attention  was  fixed, 
he  seized  the  opportunity  to  give  some  general  idea 

upon  the  subject.  He  began  with  telling  S the 

manner  in  which  a  suspected  person  is  brought  before 
a  justice  of  the  peace.  A  warrant  and  committal  were 
described;  then  the  manner  of  trying  criminals;  what 
is  called  the  court,  the  jury,  &c. ;  the  crier  of  the  court, 
and  the  forms  of.  a  trial ;  the  reason  why  the  prisoner, 
when  he  is  asked  how  he  will  be  tried,  answers,  "  By 
God  and  my  country :"  this  led  to  an  account  of  the  old 
absurd  fire  and  water  ordeals,  and  thence  the  advantages 
of  a  trial  by  jury  became  more  apparent  by  comparison. 

Mr.  told  S why  it  is  called  empannelling  a 

jury,  and  why  the  jury  are  called  a  panel;  the  manner 
in  which  the  jury  give  their  verdict ;  the  duty  of  the 
judge,  to  sum  up  the  evidence,  to  explain  the  law  to  the 
jury.  "  The  judge  is,  by  the  humane  laws  of  England, 
always  supposed  to  be  the  protector  of  the  accused; 

and  now,  S ,  we  are  come  round  to  your  question ; 

the  judge  cannot  make  the  punishment  more  severe ; 
but  when  the  punishment  is  fine  or  imprisonment,  the 
quantity  or  duration  of  the  punishment  is  left  to  his  judg- 
ment. The  king  may  remit  the  punishment  entirely ; 
he  may  pardon  the  criminal ;  he  may,  if  a  man  be  sen- 
tenced to  be  hanged,  give  him  his  choice,  whether  he 
will  be  hanged  or  transported" — (The  word  was  ex- 
plained.) 

"  But,"  said  S ,  "  since  the  judge  cannot  change 

the  punishment,  why  may  the  king  ?  I  think  it  is  very 
unjust  that  the  king  should  have  such  a  power,  because 
if  he  changes  the  punishment  for  one  thing,  why  mayn't 
he  for  another,  and  another,  and  so  on  1" 

Mr. .  "  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  my  dear  S , 

that  it  is  for  the  good  of  a  state,  that  a  king  should  have 
such  a  power ;  but  I  am  not  sure.  If  any  individual 
should  have  this  power,  1  think  it  is  most  safely  trusted 
to  a  king ;  because,  as  he  has  no  connexion  with  the 
individuals  who  are  tried,  as  he  does  not  live  among 
them,  he  is  not  so  liable  as  judges  and  jurymen  might  be 
to  be  prejudiced,  to  be  influenced  by  personal  revenge, 
friendship,  or  pity.  When  he  pardons,  he  is  supposed 
to  pardon  without  any  personal  motives.  But  of  all  this. 


APPENDIX.  547 

S ,  you  will  judge  for  yourself,  when  you  study  the 

law.  I  intend  to  take  you  with  me  to next  assizes, 

to  hear  a  trial." 

S looked  full  as  eager  to  hear  a  trial,  as  he  had 

done,  half  an  hour  before,  to  act  a  play.  We  should 
mention  that  in  the  little  play  in  which  he  had  acted,  he 
had  played  the  part  of  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  a  sort 
of  trial  formed  the  business  of  the  play;  the  ideas  of 
trials  and  law,  therefore,  joined  readily  with  his  former 
train  of  thought.  Much  of  the  success  of  education  de- 
pends upon  the  preceptor's  seizing  these  slight  connex- 
ions. It  is  scarcely  possible  to  explain  this  fully  in 
writing. 

(February  25th,  1797.)  S was  reading  in  "  Even- 
ings at  Home,"  the  story  of  "  A  friend  in  need,  is  a  friend 
indeed." 

"  Mr.  G.  Cornish,  having  raised  a  moderate  fortune, 
and  being  now  beyond  the  meridian  of  life,  he  felt  a  strong 
desire  of  returning  to  his  native  country." 

S .  "  How  much  better  that  is,  than  to  say  he  felt 

an  irresistible  desire,  or  an  insupportable  desire,  as  people 
sometimes  say  in  books." 

Our  pupils  were  always  permitted  to  stop  when  they 
were  reading  loud,  to  make  whatever  remarks  they 
pleased  upon  whatever  books  they  read.  They  did  not, 
by  this  method,  get  through  so  many  books  as  other  chil- 
dren of  their  age  usually  do  ;  but  their  taste  for  reading 
seemed  to  increase  rapidly.  (See  Books.) 

(March  8th,  1797.)  H (fourteen)  told  us  that  he 

remembered  seeing,  when  he  was  five  years  old,  some 
puppets  packed  up  by  a  showman  in  a  triangular  box ; 

"  and  for  some  time  afterward,"  said  H ,  "  when  I 

saw  my  father's  triangular  hatbox,  I  expected  puppets  to 
come  out  of  it.  A  few  days  ago,  I  met  a  man  with  a 
triangular  box  upon  his  head,  and  I  thought  that  there 
were  puppets  in  the  box." 

We  have  taken  notice  of  this  propensity  in  children, 
to  believe  that  particular  are  general  causes ;  and  we  have 
endeavoured  to  show  how  it  affects  the  temper  and 
the  habits  of  reasoning.  (See  Temper,  and  Wit  and 
Judgment.) 

(March  27th,  1797.)  Mr.  showed  little  W 

(three  years  old)  a  watch,  and  asked  him  if  he  thought 
that  it  was  alive. 

W .  "Yes." 


548  PRACTICAL  EDUCATION. 

Mr. .  «  Do  you  think  that  the  fire  is  alive  ?" 

W .  "Yes." 

Mr. (The  child  was  standing  at  the  tea-table.) 

u  Do  you  think  the  urn  is  alive  ?" 

W .  "  No." 

Mr. .  "  Do  you  think  that  book  is  alive  ?" 

W .  "No." 

Mr. .  "  The  horses  !" 

W .  "  Yes," 

Mr. .  "  Do  you  think  that  the  chaise  is  alive  ?" 

W .  "  Yes."    Then,  after  looking  in  Mr.  's 

face,  he  changed  his  opinion,  and  said,  No. 

W did  not  seem  to  know  what  was  meant  by  the 

word  alive. 

Mr. called  H.  (five  years  old),  and  asked  her 

whether  she  thought  that  the  watch  was  alive.  She  at 
first  said,  Yes  ;  but,  as  soon  as  she  had  time  to  recollect 
herself,  she  said  that  the  watch  was  not  alive. 

This  question  was  asked,  to  try  whether  Reid  was 
right  in  his  conjecture  as  to  the  answers  a  child  would 
give  to  such  a  question.  (See  Reid's  Essays  on  the  In- 
tellectual Powers  of  Man.) 

We  frequently  say  that  flowers,  &c.  are  dead  :  we 
should  explain  to  children  that  there  are  two  kinds  of 
life  ;  or  rather,  that  the  word  life  is  used  to  express  two 
ideas  ;  vegetable  life  and  animal  life. 

(July,  1797.)  Miss  Louisa told  us,  that  when  a 

rosebud  begins  to  wither,  if  you  burn  the  end  of  the 
stalk,  and  plunge  it  redhot  into  water,  the  rose  will  be 
found  revived  the  next  day  ;  and  by  a  repetition  of  this 
burning,  the  lives  of  flowers  may  be  fortunately  pro- 
longed many  days.  Miss  Louisa had  seen  many 

surprising  recoveries  performed  by  this  operation,  and 
several  of  her  friends  had  adopted  the  practice  with  uni- 
form success. 

We  determined  to  repeat  the  experiment.  Children 
should  never  take  any  thing  upon  trust  which  they  can 
verify.  Two  roses,  gathered  at  the  same  time,  from 
the  same  tree,  were  put  into  separate  glasses  of  water. 
The  stalk  of  one  of  these  roses  was  burnt,  according  to 
prescription ;  they  were  left  a  night  in  water,  and  the 
next  day  the  rose  that  had  been  burnt,  appeared  in 
much  better  health  than  that  which  had  not  been  burnt 
The  experiment  was  afterward  several  times  repeated; 


APPENDIX.  549 

and  should  be  tried  by  others  until  the  fact  be  fully 
ascertained. 

(July,  1797.)   Little  W (three  years  old)  was 

shown  Miss  B 's  beautiful  copy  of  the  Aurora  sur- 

gens  of  Guido.  The  car  of  Apollo  is  encircled  by  the 
dancing  hours,  so  that  its  shape  is  not  seen ;  part  of 
one  wheel  only  is  visible  between  the  robes  of  the 

dancing  figures.     We  asked  little  W why  that  man 

(pointing  to  the  figure  of  Apollo  in  his  invisible  car) 
looked  so  much  higher  up  in  the  air  than  the  other 
people  1 

W .  "  Because  he  is  in  a  carriage ;  he  is  sitting 

in  a  carriage." 

We  pointed  to  the  imperfect  wheel,  and  asked  if  he 
knew  what  that  was  7  He  immediately  answered,  "  Yes, 
the  wheel  of  the  carriage."  We  wanted  to  see  whether 
the  imagination  of  a  child  of  three  years  old,  would 
supply  the  invisible  parts  of  the  car ;  and  whether  the 
wheel  and  horses,  and  man  holding  the  reins,  would 
suggest  the  idea  of  a  phaeton.  (See  Chapter  on  Taste 
anff  Imagination.) 

We  shall  not  trespass  upon  the  reader's  patience  with 
any  more  anecdotes  from  the  nursery.  We  hope  that 
candid  and  intelligent  parents  will  pardon,  if  they  have 
discovered  any  desire  in  us  to  exhibit  our  pupils.  We 
may  mistake  our  own  motives,  and  we  do  not  pretend 
to  be  perfectly  impartial  judges  upon  this  occasion ;  but 
we  hope  that  only  such  conversations  or  anecdotes 
have  been  produced,  as  may  be  of  some  use  in  practical 
education.  From  conversation,  if  properly  managed, 
children  may  learn  with  ease,  expedition,  and  delight,  a 
variety  of  knowledge ;  and  a  skilful  preceptor  can  apply 
in  conversation  all  the  principles  that  we  have  labori- 
ously endeavoured  to  make  intelligible. 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  BERKELEY 

FORM  NO.  DD6,  60m,  1/83  BERKELEY,  CA  94720 

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